Dragons Breath
by Beeni
Summary: Ever since the emperor took over, Max has spent here life in captivity. Now, as she is given the hope of escaping her past, she readily accepts. But when everyone knows more about her than they let on, is she really who she thought she was? AH.FAX.
1. Chapter 1

**Ok Hi guys I'm Beeni and this is my VERY FIRST FIC, so plz go easy on me. I'm sorry if I have any spelling or punctuation errors, I will definitely try my best to have as little as possible. also I am open to any suggestion or comment, so feel free to give me a buzz at any time u like! Ok, now to get on with the story! **

**Enjoy! **

**Beeni.**

Darkness consumed me as I fell onto my bed, that is, if you could actually call it a bed. But I couldn't get to sleep. I was a serving girl, nothing special, and getting to sleep became harder and harder as my bed thinned.

Although one day I did wish to be parted from these walls that I have been bound to all my life, for now all I can do is wish for a saviour.

A sudden cold gust of wind entered through the open window of my quarter. The small room only consisted of a bed made of hay and dry leaves and two pairs of neatly folded clothes for me to change into in the corner. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

You see, my name is Max, short for Maximum Ride. I am the long lost daughter or a dead king, whose kingdom and people had been killed by the very man I worked for now. Mother and I had been the only ones to survive the attacks at the time, and were caught trying to escape from the castle walls. The emperor had taken us in as servants to set an example to others about his wealth and power. Mother however had died five years ago, sick and helpless in bed, with no one to look after her.

I mentally cringed at the memory, feeling tears run down my face. I open my eyes and looked around, it had started raining outside and large puddles of water had begun to form on my bedroom floor. I quickly grabbed a rag from my bead and soaked the water up , but more and more started coming in as the rain got heavier.

I sighed and looked down, feeling tears well up in my eyes as I remembered my mother. When she had been alive, we would sit down on my bed that we had shared and she would tell me stories of people getting their happy endings, giving me the hope that one day maybe I myself would be free again like I once had been.

The day she died, I had cried myself to sleep. One of the guards keeping watch at the time had seen me and had started teasing me. Pushing me around the room and telling me to toughen up.

I had spent many days like that, being pushed around, but then I decided that nothing was going to come of crying over what had occurred, but at least I had the power to even remotely shape what was to come. That night I had decided that I would never cry again. I had decided that from that day on, I would conceal my emotion and never let the guards take advantage of it. Because I know mum would have told me to stay strong.

I was interrupted from my trail of thought with the sound of thunder crashing down. I looked down to see that the puddle had formed yet again.

As I was about to look up, I caught my reflection in the water. My dirty blonde hair and dark chocolaty eyes were a mess. I had dirt all over my face and my mouth was set in a straight line, as always.

I looked away and got up to close the window. At one stage I could barely reach the window, but in the past few years, I had grown immensely and now, closing the window had become a piece of cake.

Once again I grabbed the rag from the floor and drain the water out of it in the far corner of the room, away from my bed. Then I bought it back and cleaned the rest of the water on the floor.

By the time I was done, I was so tired that as I fell onto my bed again, I didn't notice that the layer of hay and leaves was as thin as paper, or the fact that I had nothing to cover myself with. All that mattered to me was that I was alive and on this note I fell into deep sleep, unaware of the man that had entered my room.

**Ok, so wat do you think? Like it? Hate it (hopefully not)? Or is it just "ok"? Please read and review! First person to review gets chocolate! :D**

**this chapter was just a starter, to get the mood going on the context of the story. i hope it was too boring, though it was necessary! :S **

**PLZZZZ Review! It would be nice to hear what people think about my work...**

**Live the minute, not in the past**

**Beeni**


	2. Chapter 2

**AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! its friday today! yay! **

**i ma overjoyed to the max...**

**though i do have heaps of homework, being a junior and all. **

**also, i edited this to the best i could. plz tell me if there is anything wrong with it..**

**i love popcorn and chocolate together as a combination. you should try it. it tastes better than it sounds :D**

**just thought you should know that**

**ok then,**

**on with the story...**

As the first beams of sunlight entered my room, I opened my eyes. I had exactly twenty minutes to wash my face from the with the bucket of water outside, and make it to the generals office in order to receive my tasks for the day and be ticked off the list for appearance.

I got out of bed and felt a pain jab down my back. The mattress was once again thinning out, I would have to collect some hay from the barn on he way back from my days duties.

I massaged my neck and got up to walk outside. I had a sudden feeling that I was being watched, I turned around in a swift and sharp motion to hit straight into a man, falling to the floor with a lod thud.

I got up as quickly as I could, and started apologising, assuming it was yet another one of the morning guards that patrolled the rooms.

I moved my messy dirty blonde hair out of my face and risked a glance upwards. I was looking straight in two piercing black eyes. I let out a yelp in surprise and moved a step back, in case the guard decided to lash out at me. But the man just stood there. I looked away from his eyes to get a better look at him. He seemed about my age or maybe a few years older. Definitely not a guard.

He had on a white tunic with black leather trousers. His shaggy black hair was was unkempt form the edges, covering his left eye.

I didn't realise that I had been staring. As the man cleared his throat, I looked away.

"Who are you?" I asked, after I had recovered from my temporary state of shock.

He seemed to think about something for a minute before answering.

"You may call me Fang." he said, looking me straight in the eye, as if trying to measure my reaction. I looked back at him, matching the intensity of his gaze. Shaking his head, he looked way.

I raised an eyebrow at him in question. He didn't quiet seem to be grasping the idea that I, for one, did not know him, and two, he was in my quarters without permission.

By looking at his state, he seemed like one of the newly recruited servants The Emperor decides he needed, every once in a while. It seemed, that this time, he had hit somewhere hard, for "Fang" did not at all seem like an ordinary working-class person.

He must have seen the look on my face and smirked slightly. I gave him another questioning look, this guy really was dumb wasn't he. According to regular servant protocol, we were not allowed to socialise or even acknowledge another servant unless asked to or if it is necessary.

"I know that you probably have many questions, but right now, if you would please get me something to eat and drink, I have travelled from far, and wish to rest before we begin our journey." that seemed to be the longest he had spoken since I had discovered him in the corner. But that was beside the point.

Who did he think he was, ordering me around like that. I had too many restrictions and orders in my life as it is, as he seemed to think that I would listen to him and put myself in danger of a beating.

Again, as if he could read my mind, he smirked and said, "Do not worry, no one can see me unless I want them to. So you are safe of any punishment. And as for ordering you, well, I'm not exactly ordering you. It is common courtesy to serve a guest who has come from far away travels." smirking, yet again as he said the last part.

I stood there dumbfounded. How had he known my inner thoughts. Was I really that easy to read? I had swayed off track yet again.

What I didn't understand was why he thought of himself as a guest, and if he could not be seen by whom he did not want to, then why didn't he just get his own food?

Frustrated I let out a sigh and said, "Look, one, I'm already late to what we have of breakfast and will probably get a beating." I paused for a minute to see his reaction. His face was neutral, as it had been since I had seen him. "Two, we never get enough for one person to eat, let alone two! And three, what's in this for me?" I asked, getting annoyed at my lack of information regarding the situation.

"Lets see, you will be free of all of your duties for the rest of the day. I will help you escape and I will answer any questions I can, but just remember, some things are better not known."

I looked at him with a quizzically. Who was he to rid me of my duties for the day. But then, it did intrigue me to be set me free of this hell-hole.

I looked up to meet his gaze. Just for a second I saw a hint of begging in his eyes. As if he really needed me to cooperate. i thought for a second, considering the pros and cons of the situation. He seemed ok, i guess. And plus, form the look he was giving me, i should at least help him with food and a place to sleep.

So me being the caring person I was, decided to agree. What was it that he could know about me that i didn't already.

**ok so, chapter is finnished! wupeeeeeee!  
i hope u like it**

**i tried to have as much detail as possible, to let you know on what might or might not happen...**

** please Review and tell me what you think!**

**reviews make me super dooper happy!**

**Also, Great Hawk gets the chocolate for being first reviewer ever for me!**

**ok then, enjoy the weekend!**

**ill try to update as much as possible, maybe in the next few days. i dont really have a regular pattern at the moment!**

**Beeni**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi guys, so this is the latest installment of Dragons Breathe! i hope you like it.**

**i tried to make the chapter a bit longer and more descriptive than last time**

**so tell me what you think!**

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As I got to the General office, my stomach started doing flip-flops. I was definitely going to get a beating.

Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door. It opened slowly, as I braced myself for the punishment that was to come.

"So you've finally decided to join us have you now" said the general with a harsh but sarcastic tone. "I do believe that attendance was called about half an hour ago. But you being you, just have to disobey me every time, don't you MAXIMUM." he emphasised as he said my name. I had been looking at the clay floor as he had been lecturing me. He knew as well as anyone that I didn't like it when people used my full name, and he did so to torment me and get a reaction.

All I did was look up and gave him the best Max death glare I could muster. He just smiled.

"You haven't learned a thing have you, in the time you've been here. Little brat." then he slapped me hard across the face. I tried my best not to flinch as my cheek burned with pain.

I did not want to give in to this coward. I couldn't let him see me as weak. Slowly, I raised my hand to my cheek, still stinging from the impact of the blow.

"Awww, didn't that hurt poor Maxie" he said in an amused tone. "Well then, this must must be any easy blow!" He said as I lifted my head to face him. I saw the anger on his eyes, his nostrils flaring and eyes were wide. He pulled back his hand, but before I could react, he kicked me straight in the stomach. Making me fall back and wince.

"You didn't expect that now did you, Maxie." he said, using my pet name yet again. I quickly stood up to show him that I didn't care, but fell back, as my legs gave in.

I looked up at him to show that I didn't care. But he knew as well as I did, how much it had hurt and smirked at my reaction. "Your going to need more than that to survive in this place Maxie and you know that." He said teasingly, to reminding me that he was stronger than me.

Huffing, I got up off the floor, with an an emotionless face that I had mastered, while inside, only I knew how much it was hurting. Just as he was about to hit me once again, Master Bej walked into the generals office with an angered look.

"How many time have I told you not to beat the females now, Samuel?" the master said red faced.

"But I'm only giving this girl what she deserves, and you know that Bej" the general said with total disrespect for the Master. I looked between the men. The Master had always been strict, but had always had mercy in his heart for the female serving girls, saying that they did not belong in such rough conditions. Not only this, but he had argues with The Emperor every time he had brought in a new serving girl, saying that she should work within the castle or be freed, and for this, I forever grateful towards him.

"You may go and have your breakfast Max. But do not have this happen again, do you understand young lady?" he asked in an authoritative tone. I had not realised when the General and Master had stopped talking, but the General now stood with an annoyed look on his face, and I knew for a fact that he would finish with me later.

Realising that the Master was still waiting for my response, I gave a quick nod of understanding and ran out the generals office.

I kept running until I got to the breakfast room, looking back every now and then in order to make sure that the General had not decided to follow me. To my relief I made it to the room without any disruptions.

As I entered the room, all eyes turned to look at me. People gasped as I realised that I was bleeding from when the General had hit me. Ignoring the pain, I gave everyone a death glare and they turned back to their food.

As I walked over to the serving table, I quickly put some food into a tray, praying that the guards would not notice I had taken a larger than necessary quantity. Looking around at the people at the tables, I slowly walked to exit door, where the guards stood.

"Hey, where do you think your going Missy?" asked one of the guards. I looked up at him and quickly thought of an excuse to get myself out. From there it was easy going back to my quarters.

"The General said I eat in isolation, for being late to attendance." I said, hoping they wouldn't question me. The guard looked thoughtful for a second, and then nodded at me, moving away from the door to let me pass. As I got outside, I let out a breathe that I hadn't known I was holding and quietly made my way to my quarters.

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After I had arrived at my room, I had given some of my breakfast to Fang and started to eat mine. All the while keeping a close eye on him as he ate.

I had not notice how high his cheekbones were before, or the fact that he had a scar running down the very side of his face.

He was not at all bad looking. I could easily call him handsome, but that was beside the point, for all I knew, he could be plotting against me as we sat here. Figuring out how to get rid of me when he had gotten the food he had asked food.

As I watched, I saw a smirk slowly make its way up on his lips. He ate the last of his bread and turned to look at me. Slightly coughing to break the silence.

I had not realise that I was staring, and quickly turned away, trying to hide the blush that was creeping up on my face.

"You have your reasons to doubt me, but I must tell you that I intend to harm towards you." he paused. "but I must tell you that that I speak the truth when I ay that I am here to help you." he said the last part while looking at me straight in the eyes. I shuddered under his gaze and looked away. How does he always know what I'm thinking.

"You said that you would tell what I wanted to know." I inquired. But before I could ask about how he knew my thoughts he started to talk once again.

"Ahh, yes I shall. To begin with, I am here to help you escape these wall and take you were you really belong." he paused again before continuing "And I am also to be your teacher in the arts of geography and other necessary skills, since you have spent most of your time without education."

He looked at me to see my reaction to what he was telling me.

I had on a neutral look on my face, not wanting him to see the joy I felt of escaping these walls. As well as the fear that haunted my thoughts of what would happen if I left with a total stranger.

As is if taking my silence as an indication to continue. "This is all I can tell you right now, but as time progresses so will your knowledge of what is to come." he looked up at me and away from the empty food tray he had been gazing at. "I will give you the next few minutes to decide what you would like to do. Remember to make the right decision." And with that he lay his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.

This could possibly be the hardest few minutes of my life so far.

**ok, so did you guys like it?  
i hope it was better than the last two**

**i dont wan to be ike the those pushy authors that always crave reviews, **

**but i will say that i love reviews so plz R&R. it makes my day**

**also,**

**talking about reviews, i would like to thank the following people for reviewing my story so far:**

**- FangsGirl823- thankyou so much for the suggestion. i tried to implement it in my writing this time. tell me what you think!**

**- Fangluv- thnx**

**- HeAt-StRoKe- thanks heaps**

**- Great Hawk- thnx**

**i love all of you! :D**

**Beeni**


	4. Chapter 4

**hi everyone! so i did take longer than last time to update, but it only took me two days. also, i wanted to say, from now i might update only once or twice a week, due to my workload!**

**sorry, **

**i really wanted to be a consistent updater, but times change ans do circumstances. **

**so yeh**

**but now to start the story...**

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**i forgot to add a disclaimer to my story: I Do not own maximum ride, but i do own this plot. :)**

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I sat down on what was left of my bed, thinking of what Fang had just said. I had always wanted to escape these walls. It had been my lifes ambition for quite a while now, but every time there was an escape made, the General and his men would take no time in catching and slaughtering the person caught. I didn't want the same fate.

But then, there was the fact that he was invisible to everyone except me. He had magic, that was for sure, but how strong it was, I could not judge. We had had magicians in the Forte before, but they had always performed tricks to amuse the Emperor or to help him concur a new target he was planning to overthrow. I had never seen a free roaming magician.

While I had been thinking, Fang had stood up and was looking out the window with a panicked look on his face. Any emotion shown by him was serious.

He turned around to face me and had a questioning look on his face. For a second I could not comprehend what he had meant, but then realisation struck like a sharp arrow. He was asking me of my decision. But before I could respond I heard men shouting from outside. The guards had discovered I was purposefully getting off duty and had come to find me.

In one swift movement, Fang ran across the room and grabbed my arm and whispered something like _εξαφανίζομαι__._

Just as I was about to ask him what he had done, the guards burst into the room. I was about to about to let out a yelp of fear, but Fang quickly moved one of his hands off my waste to cover my mouth. I turned to look at him with a questioning fear in my eyes. He gave me a look, telling me to wait, with his eyes. Was that even possible. Oh well, back to the matter at hand.

The guards circled the room. "We know you're around here somewhere, so show yourself or we will have to use the hard way. And you don't want that now do you Maxie" said one of the guards, Dylan I think his name was.

It was then that realisation struck me like lightening. Fang had made us both invisible to the crowd of men. I looked back once gain at Fang and was met my two back orbs, staring down at me. I nodded to let him know that I knew what he had done, and he removed his hand from over my mouth, but he still did not let go of me. I didn't try to set myself free for two reasons, like I normally wood. One being the fact that the guards would here us move and two, for some reason a felt a sense of safety in his arms. Something that I had forgotten for, many years ago.

I relaxed in his grip and looked at the guards. Dylan seemed to be saying something, but I had stopped paying attention.

"...go to the milking barn. Maybe she's there. If she isn't then we'll have to send a patrol outside the forte to see if she had escaped. She couldn't have gone far" he said as all the guards exited the room, leaving me standing there shocked at what had just happened. I coughed slightly and Fang let go of me, not looking at me when I turned around.

"Well then, that makes it easier. I guess my decision has been mad for me, by fate." I looked up at him to catch him eyeing me with an intensity that I had never seen before. He quickly snapped out of his trance and looked at me in the eyes. "I'll come" I said before heading to my bead and taking out my mums necklace from under all the leaves and hay.

Sighing, I swallowed tears threatening to escape the rims of my eyes. I fought all the good memories I had had with her, even if we had been in captivity. Then the last memory of her came to my mind, as she was giving me the necklace, telling me to always trust instinct. Slowly shaking mt head, I rid myself of the past and I got up and looked at Fang, while carefully tying the necklace around my neck.

"I think that's all I need. So, when are we leaving." I said, turning to look at him. He had been studying my little show of emotion and all of a sudden had a smirk on his face.

"Well, by the looks of the situation, I think we're going to have to leave as soon as possible. So if that's all you need to get, then we should probably leave." he said, turning towards the door.

"Wait, am I still invisible?" I asked, curious how long the spell lasted.

"You should be fine for the next few hours, unless I remove the charm of course. It wont last for as long as you wish, because someone else has placed it upon you. A charm is only in the control of the person who placed it. This is one of many thing you will learn on our journey." After he was done given me all the wise talk, he finally motioned me to follow him quietly outside the room.

I trailed after him, making sure to keep at least two feet of distance between us. I didn't completely trust him yet, even after all he had said. For some reason there was a part of me telling me to rebel and not listen to him, to stay behind and face the music. But the more logical part of me had a stronger hold, urging me to trust him and go with him.

As I trailed behind Fang quietly, I noticed the guards were still making a commotion of my disappearance, running this way and that, shouting orders. I smiled at the thought that they couldn't see me, and hopefully would never see me again. Soon I would be out of these gates and into the open, which truthfully, I had no idea as to what it would be like.

As we were reaching the gate, a sense of panic attacked me as I realised that the guards had bought out the sniffers. If people could still here the noise we made, then I had a feeling the dogs could still track my scent. I quickened my pace and caught up with Fang, who had been a few feet ahead of me.

As soon as I got close enough, he whispered "Ok, so I wasn't expecting this, but I do have an idea. I'll need you to cooperate though." he said looking at me and waiting for an answer. I felt anger rise from within me as I looked at him.

"I am a mere distraction that you brought along to entertain the dogs, while you escaped. I should have never believed you." I said in a hoarse whisper, assuming the worst of what I thought he was going to say. As I was about to turn and leave, he grabbed my hand and pulled me close to him, so his lips were a mere centimetre away from my ears. I shivered and thought how good..

Okay, scratch that, I did not just think that.

As I cleared my head of these thoughts, I could have sworn that I felt his lips smirk against my ear. What was he laughing at? But just as I was about to ask, he started whispering.

"You know as well as I do that my intentions are clear. Don't listen to the bad voice in your head, concentrate on the good one that's telling you to trust me. I'll explain all of this later, just bare with me fro now." he asked with a pleading look. I nodded and he sighed in relief, looking back at the dogs, which seemed to be getting closer and closer. One of them started barking and running towards us. The guards looked around the yard, confused.

I couldn't help but snicker, even with the situation we were in. Fang looked back at me and gave me a look as if asking 'really?'. I shrugged and he turned back towards the dog, which now stood in front of us looking up at us showing us his sharp fangs. I snickered again at the though of 'fangs', thinking of Fang's name. He seemed to look back at me with a bemused look, I just shrugged, he turned back mumbling something under his breathe that I couldn't quite catch.

How did he know what I was thinking just then? What if he was a.. I couldn't finish thinking because Fang interrupted my thoughts by jabbing an elbow into my side, telling me to concentrate. He slowly moved forward, quietly chanting something I could not hear. As he finished, the dog turned around and ran back to its master, as if nothing had happened.

"Now hurry before they suspect something. We need to get out of these gates as soon as possible. Once we escape, we will be safe form the guards, but there will be other challenges." he whispered, as he walked beside me.

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We reached the gate without any further trouble. "Get on my back and hold on." He said as he bent down. I stood there confused and angered by what he had said. I would not take orders and definitely not something involving physical contact. I stood there for a second before obliging after he shot me a look. Might as well.

As I got on, I realised that he smelled of fresh forest air and something else, and for some reason I put my head onto his back, taking it all in, liking what was happening.

Wait, what? What's up with me? Why do I keep thinking of him?

Ahhhh, its like he had a firm hold on me. Shaking my head, I watched astounded, as he chanted something and we slowly started lifting into the air and over the Fortresses walls, and into the open forest.

When we were over the wall, he let me go and I got off his back and looked around. I had never been outside those walls. But, for some reason I felt disappointed as Fang moved away form me, letting me go.

Ignoring the disturbing thoughts in my head, I looked around the forest, taking it in, bit by bit. It was so green, so beautiful, so full of life, that it made me smile.

But as I turned to my side, my eyes widened to the size of saucers.

**ok, so thats chapter 4! so wat do u guys think?  
i made i longer than as some of you said**

**aslo**

**i would like to thank the following reviewers for the last chapter (i love u, u make me smile):**

**- THEYELLOWROSE**

**- HeAt-StRoKe **

**- Moon Agent **

**i hope that if u asked for something, that it was fulfilled this chappie!  
ok then i gotta go**

**its 10pm here in Australia at the moment (sleepy)*yawns* **

**Beeni**

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**sorry if forgot to say before : R&R**

**:D**


	5. Chapter 5

**ok ok ok, so it has been a while since my last update, but honest, i had a lot of work. so plz cut me some slack. but wht matter is that the update is happening. also, it has only been six days. so thats less than a week! :)  
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**but i did warn you people, that i would take time on some of my updates. **

**Anyway, so this is the latest chapter of Dragons Breath. i hope u like :)  
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I stood there dumbfounded. There, in front of me now stood a creature, with dark black scales, and golden specks scattered here and there. It was beautiful.

It took me a while to realise what it was. "I-Is that a Dragon?" I asked Fang in a surprised almost-whisper, but I knew he had heard. He walked up beside me and looked ahead just like I did.

"That is _Σκοτάδι__ Λεπίδα_ or _Sabre _as I like to call him." He said, and without even looking I could sense the smirk in his voice. I had a sudden urge to go up and touch Sabre, he turned around to look at us. He moved his head in a nod, as if to acknowledge Fang and I as we stood there. "You can touch him, he won't bite." said Fang in an amused tone.

I moved forward, towards the beast, watching him closely as I got closer and closer. As if he sensed my discomfort, Sabre moved forward and brushed his head against my side, catching me off guard, as I stubbled back, to be caught by two strong arms. I looked up to see Fang smirking down at me and quickly straightened up.

I looked around taking in the forest and what had just happened, properly for the first time. I had been so used to the closed off wall of the Forte that I had completely forgotten what it had been like to be free and roam around, like I once had, before being held in captivity. The trees were so green ant the air smelled fresh and clean, unlike the smoke-stained atmosphere within the Forte.

Everything about the outside world was so good, so perfect, and yet a had a sense that this was just the cover-up, and that the wood that now seemed so peaceful, held the real dangers of the world, hidden within the think trees. Shaking away the feeling, I concentrated on the good, and I would continue to, until it lasted. I turned back around to see Fang quietly stroking his dragon, and smiling, as if they were sharing some sort of private conversation. I still could not take in the creature that stood before me. I had always thought that dragons were mythical creatures, I had never thought they existed, let alone seen one before.

As Fang realised I was looking, he turned to face me along with Sabre. "Take in all the good while it lasts, it's not all that it seems. When I told you that I would help you escape, I did not say that it would become easier, because it definitely won't, it will be much harder, but you will have the freedom of choice. For now, we will walk on ahead and find a place to crash for the night and then tomorrow I will explain what will happen, it will be your choice from there." I think that was the longest he had said from when I had first met him. Not knowing what else to do, I just nodded and looked at him expectantly.

He motioned for me to come closer. I obliged and as I walked and stood in front of him, he started talking again. "Okay, we need to be careful as to what we say out loud, make sure you don't say something you will regret later." He saw the confused look on my face and continued, "I know this may not make much sense right now, but as soon as we find a place to crash, I'll explain as much as I can. Also, just in case you're wondering, no, we will not me riding Sabre because I may catch unwanted attention. For now, that is all I can say, as I said before..." but before he could continue I finished for him "You will tell me later."

He seemed to be amused by my mood. I was starting to get annoyed at the fact that he knew more about what concerned me than I did. Even though it did sound logical that he would know, once he seemed to have spent more time outside than I obviously had. I sighed in frustration at the situation. There were so many things that I was oblivious to, and I couldn't help but be annoyed at my own ignorance and disinterest at the world outside the wall I had been held captive within almost all my life.

While I had been having an internal ranting moment, Fang had decided to disappear into the wood, leaving me standing in the middle of the small clearing we had bee, with Sabre. But that didn't last long as Sabre started to move and walk into the woods. For a second I thought of following, but a part of me kept me standing put.

I stood there for about another few minutes, before walking in the direction of were Sabre had disappeared to. As I walked further and further into the thick woodland, I sense of fear and loneliness that I had never before felt, even in the cold harsh wall of the Forte. Looking around, I realised that it had started to get darker as I saw the setting sun above the trees. Before I could move an arrow came and hit me in my left shin, making me stumble to the ground in pain. Looking around I saw me walk out of the shadow.

A fat and snobby looking man walked up to me. "And what would a pretty girl like yourself be doing in the woods alone, at this time." he said, taunting me by poking me in the back with something sharp. I tried to get up and fight, but a sudden pain erupted through my leg, from where the arrow had hit me. Sighing in desperation, I looked back at the floor. I would not let them win. I gather any strength I could find within me and got up onto my feet. "A tough one are 'ya now. Well, I like 'em tough." He laughed. I gave him the best glare I could and kicked him in the stomach as hard as I could I could. I had caught him off guard and he fell to the floor swearing at me. "So, that's how it is now is it, missy. Get 'er boys" he order the men that surrounded us as he had been taunting me.

The men all rushed forward. I kicked and punched at anyone I could, but there were too many of them, and only one of me. Soon they had be held against my will and, tying my hands and legs. Struggling against the steady group of the rope against my skin, I swore and looked up assessing the situation.

I had known from the start, that I had been a mere distraction for the guards to Fang, nothing more. Sighing I shook, how could I have trusted him. I should have guessed from the moment when he had asked for my help so abruptly at the Forte. I should have trusted the sickening feeling I had within me. Again I had screwed up, all because of my misconception of someone.

I remembered back when it had been my first few days at the Forte as clear as day. I had trusted the General, and so had my mother. She had told me that he had just wanted to help us. But, boy had she been wrong. It had been about two months since we had first arrived at the Forte. It had been cold that night and my mother had been feeling a bit sick. She had told me to go and get the General from his chambers. I had not wanted to leave her alone, but she had insisted, telling me that she would be fine when I came back. But little had I known how wrong she had been.

_-*Flashback*-_

_Don't worry honey, I'll be fine when you bring the General. He will help me, now run along and go fetch him like I'm telling you to." She said. Looking at her for a while, I got up and left the room, heading towards the Generals Quarters._

_When I got there, I knocked on the door a few times but got no response. I stood ther for about five minutes longer, before deciding to head back to mother. As I got to the rrom, I heard screaming and ran, recognising my mother's voice as she yelped and screamed in pain. As I got there, I saw the General drive a knife through her chest. I screamed as my mother looked at me. I ran up to her and held against me, telling her to be strong and not leave me._

"_Promise me you will take care of yourself Max. Promise me that you will not close yourself off to the world and stop dreaming. Promise me that you will never forget who you really are. The strong and passionate girl I have watched, growing in front of me." She croaked out as she reaches up to her neck and took off her necklace, placing it in my hands. "Take care of it, it's all I have left of the like we left behind. Promise me you won't lose it." Those had been her last words as her eyes rolled back in her head and she lay there motionless in my arms._

_I gave the General a menacing look, before running towards him and kicking him downstairs. He yelped in pain and just as I was about to hit him again, arms grabbed me from behind and I was dragged away from the room kicking and screaming for my mother._

_-*End Flashback*-_

From that day on, I had vowed never to get close to anyone, or trust someone unless the outcome was completely obvious. I had taught myself to never love or feel again. I had promised myself not to do the same thing ever again. That had been the last night I had kept my promises that I had made to her. I had completely closed off to the world, afraid of what would come of my actions. And yet, here I was, I had trusted someone again. I had trusted Fang and what had I achieved? The same outcome as before, I had lost.

I was knocked out my thoughts as I realised that the men had picked me up and were now carrying me as they walled deeper into the forest.

* * *

**ok, so what did you think?  
i tried to make it long and eventful.**

**i hope it wasnt too dreary...**

**tell me what you think! R&R?**

**i donno...**

**anyway, like last time, it quite late here in Australia right now (11:05pm)*yawn***

**but before i go, i have to say thans to the awsome people that reviewed last chapter. i love you. you make my day!**

**- FangsGirl823- thnx fir the review for this chappie and the last one. its ok that u reviewed late. you still reviewed :). thanx for the answers to my questions and the positive feedback. i hope you like this chapter. also, im sorry bout yout laptop. hope its better now ;).**

**- Moon Agent- thanx i appreciate it!**

**- HeAt-StRoKe- :) thanx again!**

**- conti siegel- thanx, i hope this update is too late. i hope you like the chapter. thnx for the review :).**

**- PassWrit11- thnx soo much! i tried to edit the story as much as possible this time. hope its good now... Thnx for the review. **

**ok, so im gonna hit the hay now. :)  
**

**Remember R&R...**

**Beeni**


	6. Chapter 6

**ok, so im feeling really generous today and decided to update twice. this chapter is to compensate for the very late update this week. think ill make this a habbit, updating once or twice every week, depending on my mood :) **

**so i made it as good as possible, please tell me what you think...**

I was woken from my sleep by shouting and barking. I hadn't realised that I had fallen asleep, though I couldn't have stayed asleep for long anyway, judging that the conditions I was in were worse than they had been at the Forte.

When we had arrived at what supposed to be a camp, it had battered tents and mud everywhere, worse than I had been expecting. They picked me up and threw me into a dog-crate, not taking in all the threats and cuss words I had shot at them. I had stayed like that, shouting, for a while, but then I gave up. It was no use asking for what I knew I couldn't have.

Someone screamed and I got up to look around through the holes in the crate. People were running around, women and children were shouting for help and running for cover. Just as I tried to see what the commotion was about, I saw Sabre step out from behind the trees, roaring and stomping his feet around. On his back was none other than Fang, who had a worried look on his face as he looked around the camp, as if he was searching for something.

I refused to let him see me or make any noise to signal my location. I was better here than being betrayed all over again by the scum-bag. Huffing, I sat back as much as I could in the confined space I had, watching as people ran around. Fang jumped off Sabres back and headed towards the tents, moving the flap of each and looking inside. He didn't seem to find what he was looking and kept looking around, with a panicked look on his face.

I moved back and my back hit a lose screw at the rear end of the crate. I let out a yelp and winced as the sharp metal pierced through my lower back. Fang seemed to have heard my cry and came running in my direction. He looked around, as if trying to figure out where the noise had come from. I remained quiet, not wanting him to notice the crate on the floor, a few feet away from were he was standing. He looked around and moved to the left to inspect the tent beside my crate, were the head of the tribe had gone.

I heard a sudden cry of pain and then whimpering as someone inside the tent dropped to the floor with a thud. Curiosity got the better of me and I turned around to see who would come out of the tent. As I moved my body towards the tent, another lose screw hit me again in the back, with a harder force. Those bloody suckers had planted screws into the crate, so that I couldn't escape without injuring myself enough not to get far enough from the camp. I had to give it to them, it was a very conspicuous way of torture. Cussing at the losers, I tried moving again without hurting myself, but another screw pierced through my side with a sudden jab of pain. I let out a loud yelp and tried not to move any more.

Suddenly Fang erupted out of the tent and looked at the direction of my crate. I prayed to the Gods that he wouldn't think of opening the crate. But when had luck ever been on my side. He moved towards the crate and lifted the lid, to find me squinting inside. I looked up to meet a worried pair of dark midnight eyes. Slowly and carefully I stood up and looked at him, making sure not to scratch myself again.

I got out of the small crate and looked at my cuts and bruises and then back at him. Anger flared through me as I moved my arm back and punched him with the full force I could muster. He didn't move as my fist connected with his face and instead winced but kept standing were he was. Frustrated with his reaction I punched him again and again until, I was sure he knew exactly what I meant by all my anger. Finally I let out a defeated sigh and looked him in the eye, there was no point in hitting him again and again if he was just going to stand there like an emotionless brick wall.

"Now that your done, can I please explain the situation before you start another one of your hitting rampages." he said to me with an amused but annoyed tone. I huffed and turned away from him, starting to walk away. I heard him mumble something about me as I walked away and turned around to look at him.

"So what did you come back for? I mean, you had as much as ditched me in the woods and now you come back in all your heroics and _save_ me from what _you_ started. Seriously?" I looked at him expectantly and waited for him to explain, but he just stood there and stared at me. Frustrated, I turned around and started towards the woods again, only to be held back by someone grabbing my wrist and pulling me hard, towards them.

"So you think everything is about you, don't you? That I walked away from you in the woods in order to abandon you. Well let me tell you something, it isn't. Just because I was sent here to bring you back to were you belong. Just because I have to do as I'm told and unfortunately my orders concern you, does not mean I will put up with all this crap!" he pause and let out an exasperated sigh.

So he had been sent here to do all of this, and for a second there I had thought he was just being considerate. Someone as arrogant and as demanding as him could never do something so selfless, what had I been thinking. I let out a hurt sigh and looked up, fighting the tears that threatened to escape my tired eyes.

"If I'm merely a burden and a task you have to fulfil, then hurry up and be done with it, I don't think I can stand you any longer." I said in a defeated tone. I looked up at him and saw his clenched jaw as he looked back at me.

"As I had said to you earlier, we will have to walk a little longer before we reach a clearing that Sabre found for us to crash in at night. Once we get there, I will explain my task to you and your relevance to the situation. After that we will rest a little before moving on with our journey." he paused and looked at me, before continuing "We have already lost too much valuable time." With that he turned around and walked towards Sabre. After a few moments of consideration I followed him and we started walking into the woods without a word.

As we walked deeper and deeper into the woods, the sky started to darken with the first star appearing in the horizon above us. I remembered back to the time when it had been the night of my mother murder at the Forte. I had been crying about wanting to go home to my father in my mothers arms and she had been comforting me.

_-*Flashback*-_

"_Look up there, you see that star, it will always watch over you. Its mine and your fathers star. Whenever you feel lonely, look up at it and remember that we will always love you." she said with a distant look in her eyes. A tear fell down her cheek. I was about to ask her what was wrong, but she cut me off and continued talking. "Its called _Μαχητής _in the old tongue, meaning _Fighter. _Your father and I named you after it._ _Whenever you need to talk, just look up and say what bothers you. We will always be looking down on you. Promise me you will Max darling, promise me that you will live up to your name." I looked up,at her and saw tears running down her cheek and wiped them with my sleeve as I promised her. She continued"It's the first star to arrive in the sky at sundown and the last to leave at dusk."_

_Not understanding what was going on, I looked up at her from my place in her arms and whispered "I Love You mother". "I Love you too darling, I love you too."_

_-*End Flashback*-_

I felt a tear make its way down my face as I walked on, looking up at _Μαχητής. _I wonder if mother and father were looking down on me right now. I wonder if they saw all that was happening to me. Mother would have been proud of the way I had fought back at those men that had captured me. I felt a smile creep up on my lips as I recalled all the memories that we had shared as a family, good or bad, family was always family.

As I walked on I felt a wave of loneliness hit me. I had never felt so abandoned and neglected in my life. At the Forte even in all the treacherous work, there was always a sense of security. The day ran in a perfectly set out plan, and you would know what was to come next. But here in the forest, as I looked around I realised that I somewhat missed the Forte, as bad as that sounds. Sighing I looked down at my feet, watching as they took one step after the other, leading me places where I had no idea what to expect.

* * *

**ok so how did you guys like it?**

**good, bad or alright..?**

**also, i wanted to know if i should have a 'Fang POV' in this story. or should i just keep it one way?**

**please (please) tell me what you think. **

**ok then**

**one more thing to say, because this was an early update compared to my last i will answer the reviews i got so far. the rest i will either do an A/N or answer in the next chappie.**

**- HeAt-StRoKe- thanyou very very very much... :)**

**- Angeltales321- Thanx for the review. i appreciate the comment.**

**- PassWrit11- Thankyou once again :)**

**also, i would like to thank an Anonymous person for review chapter 2! thanx, i really appreciate it, though i dont know what your pen name is...**

**ok then, Adios amigos, and remember**

**KEEP SMILING**

**Beeni**

**P.S. R&R?...**


	7. Chapter 7

**Ok hi guys.**

**how are you. i have a really tiring week and i have to hurry this up. my brother needs my laptop :(**

**so here you go... **

We arrived at a clearing not long after. The sky was blanketed with stars that looked like sequins on royal blue silk. As I made my way towards where Fang had stopped I thought about my decision. In the hour that we had spent walking I had decided that I hated Fang and that I would only talk to him if it was necessary until we reached wherever we were headed.

Fang looked up as he saw me approach. "We will need to set up camp here for now. I have a tent for you and there is a hot spring about one hundred metres away. Clean up and then we will speak." he said as he looked me up and down. I moved my hand over my cut and winced as it stung at my touch. Without giving Fang a second glace I walked in the direction he had said the spring was. I walked pat him, and stopped without turning around I said "I'll be at the spring, cleaning up, don't wait for me" and with that continued walking, a new sense of victory filling me.

* * *

After about an hour of walking in circles, I realised that the spring must be deeper into the woods than I had first imagined it. My sense of direction was very poor, due to the lack of time I had spent outside the Fortes walls. I walked further and further until finally I heard the familiar sound of rushing water. I walked towards the where the noise was coming form, and sure enough reached a clearing with a hot spring situated in the centre.

As I approached the spring I slowly removed my ragged cotton trousers which were now filthy with mud all over them. I tried to remove my my used-to-be white blouse and noticed blood smeared across the side. I moved my arms up to properly remove the blouse but winched as an ache spread in the position where I had been cut earlier. Ignoring the pain I placed the blouse on the ground along with my trousers and looked down to inspect the wound from earlier. My flesh was torn from a few areas where the screws had git me and dry blood covered the left side of my body like a thick red blanket.

Slowly I grabbed my blouse and wet it from the springs hot wtaer. As I was about to clean all the blood, I realised that it would probably infect it more than it already was if I didn't clean it and so decides to properly rinse it first. After it was washed I drained it of water and started dabbing it over my would. As the cloth touched my skin, I winced yet again as I felt the sting of the water against my open wound. Clenching my fist, I moved the cloth over the wound and fought back the tears that were escaping the corners of my eyes.

Finally the wound was clean and I unclenched my fist and I felt blood race back into my fingers. I got up and grabbed my trousers from the ground and walked into the spring as slowly as possible. As the water touched my wound, I felt a fire erupt from within me and I let out a yelp as the pain seeped through my whole body, paralysing me for a minute. I stayed like that for a few minutes before my body finally got used to the condition and I relaxed back into the water. I felt light stings here and there on my body, but ignored them, melting into the feeling of a hot bath I dearly missed.

I picked up my trousers and blouse from where they were floating on the water and carefully rinsed them, before laying them onto the edge of the spring for drying. Though I highly doubt that they would dry much before I was done. I didn't have anything else to wear, so I had to make do with what I had. As I slowly moved back and leaned onto the opposite edge of the small spring and lay back, slowly rubbing at my bare skin, getting all the dirt off. I slowly looked up and saw how beautiful the stars looked. The sky was now full of stars and the moon was at a high point as the night passed, reminding me of my parent yet again.

After a while I got out of the spring and put on my half-dry clothes. They stuck to my body and and felt cold against my skin, I let out a small shiver and rubbed my hands against the side of my arms as I stated to walk back to the camp. Every time I moved, by body objected as my wounded side stung like someone was stabbing into it every time I moved. Slightly tightening my fists and walked on. I would not let Fang see me in this condition. I would appear strong in front of him. I would not let him find yet another reason to taunt me and remind me about my uselessness. Sighing I walked on as I realised that I would have to face him again, as much as I wanted to avoid it. A sickening feeling arose within me and a stopped walking and took a breath of reassuringly, telling myself it was ok. But for some reason as I started to walk again, my heart sank down in my chest and I felt a wave of loneliness consume me, making me want to run away and never be found again.

As I walked on I finally reached a clearing where we had set up camp and saw a warm fire blazing in the middle. And there, sitting by it, was none other than Fang himself. He looked up as he heard me approach and I could have sworn I saw a flash of relief pass over his stone hard face. Ignoring it I walked up to him and said "I thought I told you not to wait for me. I'm fine, you don't have to wait on me, I'm already a large burden to you." I looked down at where he was sitting to see his response but instead he stood up and motion for me to sit down. "I can take care of myself. You can go back to your tent and get the much deserved rest you need." sarcasm dripped in my voice like a bloody knife. And because this is my life, at that second a slow breeze blew and I felt myself shiver against my cold clothing. Hoping Fang hadn't seen I looked up as if nothing had happened and was met by a dark pair of onyx eyes, filled with worry for a second, before they returned to stone once again.

Quickly Fang walked into his tent. Just what I thought, he doesn't care, oh well. But for some reason it did matter, as much as I wanted to ignore the loneliness I felt when he left, I couldn't push it way. and I walked towards the log were he had been sitting and situated myself in front of the fire, moving closer to get warmer. I didn't noticed and Fang walked out of the rent with a pair of his leather trousers and a loose blouse in his hands. He also had a mud brow animal skin blanket on his shoulder. I looked at him and looked back at the fire, not giving him a second glance. "Put these on." I heard him say so quietly I wouldn't have heard if I didn't have my senses on full alert. I didn't budge and pretended not to have heard. Slowly I turned my back to him and moved closer to the fire as much as I could.

"Max put these on" he said, this time louder. Still I remained stubborn and did not budge from my position in front of the fire. Suddenly I felt strong arms haul me up as I was lifted from were I had been sitting into a standing position. I looked at him with a dirty look on my face and was about to protest before he grabbed my side and I winced as pain made my body tremble. He let go as quick as he had grabbed me and looked at me with shock in his eyes. "Show me the wound Max" he said with a steal voice. I turned away and tried walking back to the fire. The key word being _Tried. _Fang grabbed my hand and gently pulled me back. "Max show me the wound, stop being so stubborn damn it!" he said with a mixture of worry and anger evident in his voice. I looked up at him and saw his clenched jaw before looking down at my blouse and lifting it up enough for him to see the wound.

As I looked up at him to see his reaction, only to see his wide eyes and a cold look on his face. Quickly he walked to his tent and walked out with a small bag in his hands. As he approached me he put down the bag and started searching it for something. He looked up again and I saw he had a white cloth in his hand with some remedies that I had seen some of the guards use on their wounds at the Forte. I quickly looked away and closed my eyes before saying "I'm fine, I don't need that."

"YOUR FINE, YOUR FINE! That is not fine, that is a serious wound and if it's not treated soon you could die. Then what would I do." he said with a pained voice. I looked up at him but was met by the all too well know stone hard look of his, no emotion what so ever. He grabbed my had and sat me down before lifting up my blouse high enough to bandage my wound. I was about to protest again and sent him a death glare, but he didn't stop and so I let him continue. As much as I didn't want his help I also didn't want to die.

I looked down at his hands ans they worked on my wound, so gentle and precise. I winced as he finished cleaning my wound with some of the remedies he had in small jars. Slowly he placed his hand on my bare skin and chanted some words. καταστεί επουλωθεί, and I felt pain seep through my body as I felt my wound become smaller. For some reason, my mind kept wondering back to the fact that his hand was on my side and the heat it radiated into me, making me warm all over. I shook my head and focused on what was going on, but as I looked at him he removed his hand from my side and I felt the sense of security and warmth I was feeling fade away quicker than it had come.

He wrapped a white piece of cloth around my middle and tide it up at my back before moving my blouse back to its former position, covering my wound. Then he got up and handed me the clothes he had walked out with earlier. "Put these on before you freeze to death." He motioned towards my tent and I walked in, removing my cold and wet clothes and changing into his snug and warm trousers and tunic. Off course they were black like everything else he owned and smelled just like him. I stood there for a few minutes just taking in his scent, before I walking out. I noticed Fang turn around before looking back at the fire.

"If you die then I would have failed my task in transporting you _safely _to the king." He said before taking out some tea from the pot he had placed on the fire, turning his back to me completely.

For a second I felt rejected as I realised he had done all of this for his quest rather than for me. I should have known, how could I think that he actually did what he did to help me. How could I think that he actually felt something in that stone heart of his.

* * *

**Ok so how did u like it? i hope it was good!**

**i personally spent a lot of time on this **

**so i really hope it was good**

**it is longer (well, a bit) :)  
ok so before i go i have to thank all the brilliant reviewers! Thnx**

**- Gummy Bear- thnx sooooooooooooooo much! i really appreciate. and i will try to include the rest of them as soon as possible :) THANK YOU! :)**

**- World Of New- thankyou sooooo much too! i appreciate the review! :)**

**- HeAt-StRoKe- :) Thanks**

**ok so thanx heaps guys! **

**PLZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ review!**

**will it be too much if i ask to get to 30 reviews?  
i dont want to be pushy, so i will update soon. **

**but 30 reviews and ill try spicing it up!**

**Beeni :)))))) *yawns (again)* **


	8. Chapter 8

**Hiiiiii everyone**

**i know it has been a while, but i had loads of work! so now that i am a bit unbusy (i dont think thats a word).**

**i really tried on this, despite my work load. so i ahope its good. forgive me for any minor errors.**

**i present you chapter 8:**

My eyes opened as the first rays of light penetrating through my tent flap, hit my face, warm and comforting. These days, nothing seamed to be even slightly bright in my life, except for the sun. I had run away from the Forte, and to be honest now that I thought back to it, it seemed more like home than any other place I could think of, as sickening as the thought was. Also, Fang hadn't really done anything great to make me feel good, or even better than I was. And let me tell you, my condition was worse than it had been at the Forte in terms of my emotions.

It had been at least three days since Fang and I had spoken to each other properly, and frankly I couldn't care less. After what he had said last night about this being all about his quest, I had spent half the night up and thinking about his words. In the end I made the decision that what he thought didn't really bother me and continuing to ignore him like I had before was probably my best option. If he ever REALLY needed me, I'd consider providing my services. But until then, I was going to get on with my life like he didn't exist. I mean, I had done just that before, even if this was out in the open, in the forest, rather than the harsh yet familiar environment of the Forte.

Sighing, I got up and folded the sheets and mat I had slept on last night. Stretching, I prepared myself for the pain that was to come from my side, but instead felt nothing but a slight ache in my arms and legs. Surprised, I lifted my tunic, realising I was till wearing what Fang had given me. Ignoring the wave of warmth that ran through my body a the though of being in his clothes, I looked down at where my wound was supposed to be only to see slight fading scars in the places where the scars had been. A smile spread across my face as I thought back to last night, and Fangs hands carefully healing my gashes. For a second I felt the warmth of his touch against my skin, but it was gone too soon. Shaking my head I looked around and crawled out of my tent, putting on my boots as I got outside.

It was still early, the sun had not fully risen. There was still a slight orange tinge lingering in the sky. As I looked around everything seemed normal until suddenly my eyes found Sabre sitting by Fangs tent, looking straight at me. Feeling uncomfortable under the dragons gaze, I broke the lingering silence. "What?" I said as if expecting him to respond. _Nothing, just guarding our little spot. _What, wait, who was that? I heard a slight chuckle in my head and saw Sabre shake his head from side to side.

Then, it hit me as fast as lightening. I remembered all the moment when I had seen Fang and Sabre looking like they were in deep conversation. But of course I had thought it had merely been my imagination. I can't believe this. Actually, I can, I mean if I could believe dragons were real, then a talking dragon is just as possible. With all the weird and wonderful things I had learned in the past few days, a talking dragon should be sommething normal right? Well apparently not.

It took me a moment to take it all in. I looked back at Sabre to find an amused expression on his face. Well, as amused as a dragon look._ Lesson number one, don't underestimate things from the __τοπαρελθόν__ times. _Still having trouble comprehending the concept of a talking dragon, I just nodded. That was definitely a lesson to keep in mind. You never know what to expect from 'those' times. _Don't mock __τοπαρελθόν, you too will one day discover its importance and then you will regret your ignorance and disinterest in the matter. _Yeah, I'll be waiting for the very day. As grateful as I was of Fang for saving me from the Forte, I still did not believe in all this magic and ancient belief systems. It would definitely take me time to accept them. Let alone believe in them.

Sighing I said to Sabre "I'm going to the spring, to clean up. I'll be back in about an hour. Tell Fang not to worry too much." I said the last part with sarcasm and bitterness clearly seeping through my word as I disappeared into the thick forest, towards the spring.

As I reached the spring I saw how beautiful it looked in the day time. The clear water was steaming and welcoming as I removed my clothes and placed them onto the branch of the nearest tree. Slowly I walked into the spring and relaxed against the edge. I could definitely get used to this. Relaxing my body, I started humming a tune to one of the song that my mother used to sing to me when I had been younger.

I stayed like that for another ten minutes before deciding that I should dry off. I quickly splashed my face with water and rinsed my hair, before getting up and slowly walking towards my clothes. The light breeze felt cool against my warm body. Quickly I grabbed my clothes from the branch and put them back on.

I started to walk back to camp, but decided against it. I would stay here for a while and practise some of the new moves I had picked up on in my time at the thieves camp when they fought in the evening. I tried various types of kicks punches I had seen. At first, I kept falling and stumbled over my own feet, but then I felt a sudden rush of adrenaline makes its way into my arms and legs and I found myself getting better and better. Sweat ran down my face and my body felt like it was going spew out all my internal organs at once. I slowed down and looked around as I felt my vision clear. It had been a while since I had done some real hard labour and it felt good to be using my energy again. My laziness had disappeared, replaced by a new found sense of joy and longing to do more, but I stopped myself. I had to manage the amount of energy I used up, or I would have none left for the rest of the days work.

I stood there and waited for my breathing to steady, before I stated to walk back to the spring, to freshen up after all the sweating. This time, when I got there I quickly removed my clothing sand jumped into the relaxing water. As much as I wanted to stay in there for the rest of the day. I quickly cleared all the sweat off my skin and got out, it had been more than an hour since I had left the camp, and I needed to get back. As I put my clothes back on I realised that I would have to face Fang once I got back, considering the sun was shining bright in the sky and he would probably be wide awake by now. Sighing at my sour luck, I walked on, towards the camp, dragging my feet, leaving trails in the dirt.

As I got back to the camp, there sat unusually calm looking Fang, on the log near the ashes from the fire last night, with a look on his face that I couldn't quite comprehend. I stood there not moving as I watched him from behind a tree. He seemed so peaceful that I almost couldn't recognise him. I moved forward from my place behind the tree and approached my tent, pretending I hadn't seen him, but was cut off by his voice. "I thought that you had run away." he stated simply, and turned to look at me from where he was sitting. I saw a look of relief pass over his face and snorted.

"Yeah, and like you would have let me get far. I mean I am a part of this quest that you have been _asked_ to complete right?" He looked up at me and and for the second time today I saw an emotion pass over his face. One I hadn't seen before, Hurt. Though it was covered up once again as he looked away. As he looked back at me I blinked, telling myself that I had imagined the look on his face, but I couldn't bring myself to get over the fact that he cared. Sighing, he looked down at his hands and looked back up at me.

"No I don't think that I would have let you go far. I'm surprised that I let you be away for this long. But I figured that I should probably let you have some time alone, before the journey. Considering you're probably not used to these things." Wait, what? Okay, so this was a new side of him, I hadn't seen in quite a while. I mean, I think he's bipolar or something, one second, he seems to to hate me and the next he cares about me enough to give some alone time. He had some serious personality issues to sort out. But, because he had been nice, I decided to respond in a nice manner and just nodded my head, not trusting myself to say anything. "We need to start moving, Sabre has gone ahead to pass word to the others that we will be arriving soon. He will pick us up again at the river crossing. Meanwhile, help me pack up and we can get moving. There are only a few days left of the journey." With that he moved towards the his own tent and brought out his things, to pack. I followed his lead and did the same with my tent, before unhooking it from the ground and packing into the travel sack he had given me. I still didn't quite know where we were going.

Once everything was packed again, we started walking towards the direction of the spring, eastward I think. As we walked I thought about what Fang had meant when he had said the others. I wonder if he has a family where we are headed. Personally I feel sorry for his parents and siblings, if he has any. His personality disorder was quite severe and I knew with only spending a few days with him. Then a thought struck me, what if he was different with his family. I mean everyone is, family is family, but maybe he was only like this with me. But for some reason I couldn't imagine a 'normal' Fang.

Chuckling at the thought. I looked ahead. He was walking about ten paces ahead of me. I watched as he took one step after another, in a seemingly normal stance, but you could tell that he was thinking. The way he hunched his shoulders and had his head tilting to the left slightly. His back slightly tense. His walked tall and proud, like a great leader would while on their largest conquest. I don't know if its creepy or normal that I know him in such detail. But, all the time we had bee walking in the past few days, I had had nothing better to do than study him and try to figure him out. So far though, every time I thought I got close to the truth, he would do something to make me reconsider. It was like he knew what was going on in my head and didn't want me to figure him out. For some reason I had a feeling he was being difficult on purpose, but I would be would get to the bottom of this. I would figure him out.

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**Ok, so that was chapter 8!**

**what do you think? Review and tell me!**

**i must say, thankyou for all the reviews!**

**thankyou to the follow people:**

**- FangsGirl823- thankyou for your reviews for all the chapters! i love you! (claps) anyways, i will try to have a Fang POV as soon as possible. but i gotta finda a good moment. it will be soon though.**

**- Froyogirl27- THANYOUUUUUUUU! i love you for your review. tell me wat u think of this chapter! :)))))**

**- Gummy Bear- thankyou sooooooooooooooo much. i appreciate your comment. it really made me feel good inside!**

**- HeAt-StRoKe- thanx sooo much. i reaaly appreciate all your support and feedback! :D  
**

**so there it is guys. i hope u like this. **

**Beeni. R&R**


	9. Chapter 9

**Ok, so this is the latest chapter of DRAGONS BREATH!**

**i am so excited, just one chapter away from the 10th. yay! its a major milestone**

**so i won't keep you waiting too long...**

We travelled for most of the day, with little stops for water at any chance we could get. I hadn't spoken to Fang since the beginning of this journey. We had acknowledged each other by the nod of a head or through signals, but we hadn't spoken. There had been nothing to speak about. I had spent most of my day, studying him, and so far I had zero knowledge on anything about him. He never gave away any hints, let alone tried to make an effort to talk to me. So for now, I was pretty much screwed in that department. Though I did picked up on some interesting things. Like the fact that he always walked in a tense and no-nonsense attitude with head held high and his back straight. He rarely ever spoke or looked around, he was very focussed on whatever it was he was thinking. His cute face when he..

Okay wait, scratch that. You know what, I'm going to drop the topic now. So, on to other news. We have currently stopped for a break for tonight at a small clearing, which according to Fang, was only a two hour walk from the river we had to cross. I watched as Fang unpacked his tent and belongings, setting it up at the edge of the clearing. I stood there for a second just watching him, before he turned around and looked at me questioningly. It was only then that I realise I had been staring. I turned around as fast as I could and started to unpack my travel sack and tent, trying to hide the slight blush that tinted my cheeks, but epically failing.

I looked around and decided that I would set up camp on the other side of the clearing, exactly opposite to Fangs tent, in order to stay as far away as possible from him. I couldn't understand why I had started to get a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I saw him, which was all the time. And for some reason it always felt like he felt my discomfort but chose to ignore it. Which was great, except for the fact that he would stop talking, and leave me in silence. As much as I wanted to hate him for all he had done, I couldn't bring myself to think of him in such a way.

I realised that I had been standing and staring into space and shook all the unexplainable thoughts out of my head, before focusing on the tent I was so desperately trying to assemble. I then remembered that last time we had camped, Fang had done my tent and arranged the little belongings I had to go with it, while I had been at the spring, enjoying the warmth of the water. For a second I felt bad about being selfish and not acknowledging Fang earlier, but the feeling was replaced as I thought of what he had said to me that night.

I picked up the rods and fabric that were needed to assemble the tent, and tried to make use of them as best possible. I think I stood there clueless, for about an hour before I heard someone behind me. I quickly jumped to the side and stood in a fighting stance, only to realise that my visitor was none other than Fang. Relief filled me as I realised there was no real threat, but not wanting to be so easy on him so soon, I gave him a stern look, asking what he wanted.

"I thought you were having trouble with the tent, so I decided to help." he answered to my look. Not willing to give in so easily, I shot Fang a look before saying, "I can handle it myself thanks." With that I turned and faced the tent, trying to see the logic behind all the parts. Fang watch for a while before picking up a rod and placing it into the moist earth were I had planned to set camp. I looked at him questioningly before reaching out to grab the rod from his hands. He pulled his hand away and said "It's not that bad to ask for help, if you don't understand something." I looked at his face, being careful not to give away any emotion, before nodding slightly. He took that as a signal to continue and started to set up the tent, as I watched his every move, taking in the way he planted the rods into the ground and spread the sheet over them, before carefully tying the ends to the small hooks he had planted into the ground. As I watched, I realised that he was actually being nice to me, making me even more confused about him than I already was. One minute he hates me, the next he seems to care. It's been going on like this for the past few days, and frankly I was starting get annoyed. He thought he could do whatever he liked, but he did not realise that I too was a person with feelings. And leaving me hanging like this was seriously not the way you treat a fellow human being.

When I looked up at where he had been standing, I realised he wasn't there any more. Confused, I looked around, to find him standing in the middle of the clearing, starting a fire. I hadn't realised how dark it had become while I had been having my internal monologue. Annoyed, I walked up to him and stood to his right, watching him while tapping my foot, expecting him to look up. But to my great annoyance he just continued to do what he had been doing and I let out a frustrated sigh. I looked down at him to see the slightest smirk playing on his lips. Okay, that was the final straw. I mean what the hell? So I grabbed his arm and tugged him up from his sitting position and watched a look of surprise cross his face before he went back to his emotionless facade. "Okay, what is up with you. One minute you like me and the next you don't. Then you always give a mixed message, leaving me hanging. What is this? I have feeling too you know. And to be honest, it doesn't seem to think so." I paused before continuing. "I will not continue this journey with you, until you explain yourself. All I'm asking is for you to stop giving me the cold shoulder and actually acknowledge my presence. I don't need or want you to care, but at least give some thought to my existence."

I looked at his face as I finished, only to find a bored expression across his face. Frustrated, I huffed and walked away from him in the general direction of the woods. As soon as I got far enough I started running and running as fast as I could. Not caring that I didn't have a clue as to where I was headed.

* * *

I think I ran for hours, because I stopped, amazed at what was before me. As I walked out of the trees, I saw a river full to its peak. I looked around and there was nothing but trees for miles. Sighing I looked up at the stars, as I saw the brightest one in the sky, reminding me of mum and dad. A tear fell down my face, followed by many more and soon enough I was full out crying. I looked up at the sky and saw μαχητής sparkling down at me. Thoughts of mum clouded my head as I knelt to the ground and more tears flowed out of my eyes, like streaming water. It had been so long since I had cried properly, I had always considered it as a weakness. But now, lonely and cold in the middle of nowhere it was all that I could think of doing.

I don't know how long I sat there, as I stopped crying, I realised true extent of what was happening. I was in the middle of nowhere with no food, clean water or shelter from the cold night. Sighing, I got up and looked around for somewhere I could go in order to hide from the many people lurking in the woods at night. As I scanned the skyline, I saw a large object moving towards me I squinted my eyes, in order to make out what it was. As I stood and watched, I realised that in fact it was dragon. But not Sabre, this one was a dark blue, the colour of the rivers water with little silver specks along its body, shining against the moonlight. A sudden sense of fear erupted within me and instinct started to kick in. I ran towards the woods as fast as I could, scrabbling behind a tree as the dragon landed on the rocks by the river.

I watched in amazement as it shook its wings and looked around, before looking straight at the tree I was hiding behind. I looked around not moving. Surely it can't see me, and plus, there was no way on earth I was going out there to face it unless I had to. _You don't need to be afraid. _ I heard someone say in my head. The voice reminded me of the melody my mother used to sing to me when I had been younger and used to have trouble sleeping. I shook my head and concentrated on the dragon, which had moved closer to the tree I was behind. _You can come out, I won't hurt you. _I slowly looked up and realised that the dragon was the one talking to me in my head, like that day Sabre had. I tried to swallow down the feeling of intimidation, but my mouth was so dry I had trouble breathing. I looked towards the dragon and decided to step out of from behind the tree, it already knew I was here, so no point in hiding now. As I got out I finally got a proper look at the dragon, and the let me tell you, it was beautiful with a capital 'b'. It's beautiful royal blue scales along its back shone in the moonlight, while the lighter blue colour of its lower body, highlighted the the beautiful silver specks here and there on its body. It was amazing. I stood there moth agape for a long time and was brought back to reality with a slight nudge from the dragon. I blinked and looked up at its face and still couldn't take in the beauty.

As I stood there in awe, the dragon had moved closer to me and spoke into my head again. _We have been paired. That is why you can hear me. __We have been bound by a power from _Επιστροφή στη συνέχεια_. _I looked up at the dragon with a questioning look on my face. I wasn't exactly comfortable with the the idea of being bound to a dragonI I had just met. It was just a tad overwhelming. Sarcasm intended whole-heartedly.

_Your little understanding of _Επιστροφή στη συνέχεια_ amazes me more and more. You have been ignorant and educated in the wrong principles for too long now. This can not go on for much longer. You need to start learning of your past and future destiny. This is not an ignorable topic. _As it spoke more and more I became more and more confused. Wait, what? Destiny? You have got to be kidding me right? I mean I'd heard all about destiny so many times, but always in fairytales. I had never anticipated it to be even slightly true, let alone associate with me of all people. The hero is supposed to have a destiny, and I was was definitely no hero. Heck I was nobody, I was a slave girl.

_Do not underestimate yourself like that Max. _Wait how did it know my name. _You can stop calling me 'it'. __You can call me Abraxis. And I know your name because we have been bound for a very long time, before you were actually born actually. A dragon and its kin are bound at the birth of the dragon, whether they are born are to be born. We are eternally bonded. I am as much a part of you as you are of me. I die, you die and vice versa. _Okay, so that was blunt. But I guess Abraxis was a lot like me, the bluntness of opinion and all. _We are one, you and me. I know you and in time you will know me. _

I looked up to see the dragon standing there in all its glory talking to me and telling me that we were bonded. Then I remember something. If you could here a dragon only when you were bonded, then why could I hear Sabre? _Ah, Sabre is also connected to you due to his connection to the dragon prince. You and the dragon price have your destinies intertwined. You belong together, you are connected. _I was about to ask what she meant, but she silenced me saying _You will know more as time is right. I can not say more than I have already. I knowledge of such things, I will share, but after your training and full understanding of the responsibility you have placed on your shoulders. _Okay so this was getting creepier and creepier as she explained. Who on earth was the dragon prince and how did Sabre have a connection to him. I hear a Abraxis chuckle in my head and look up at her with an impassive look, only to meet her playful eyes. I sighed and looked down, there was no way I could get this out of her.

I looked around to find that the moon was high in the sky, and shining onto Abraxis's scales. They shone beautifully in the dark. It was still overwhelming to see that such a beautiful creature belonged to me. I moved closer in awe and touched her scales. They felt smooth against my skin, perfect and warm. I moved closer to her as a chill raked my body, in order to get some body warmth, only to be swung on to her back by her tale. I gasped as I flew threw the air and landed on her smooth back with no pain. I looked up at her face in question, to receive a toothy grin before she lifted off the ground and into the air. I yelped in surprise, I had never been this high off the ground before. The forest looked like a blanket of trees keeping the creatures of the night warm beneath it. I looked around and saw a fast moving light in the woods. From up here I could barley see it, but it was there alright. Sensing my struggle to see what it was, Abraxis dove closer to the ground, making my heart sink with the sudden rush of wind against my body. But before I froze to death, I felt Abraxis push me closer to her neck, as heat from her body radiated into mine, keeping me warm.

I looked down at the light I had seen before, only to discover a dark figure moving so fast around the woods, that it was hard to keep track of its motions. As I looked closer I realised my vision zoomed, leaving me stunned. _Like I said before, we are connected, we can share our vision, strength and other things you will learn as time passes. _I nodded, amazed at the extent that Abraxis could see things in detail. Focusing my attention back to the figure in the woods, only to realised just who it was. Fang.

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**ok. so there you have it folks, chapter nine?**

**what do you think? i spent quite a lot of time on this. and it is longer than my average update.**

**so that is an achievement!**

**anyway, im sorry if this chapter was half filler, but i think it was nessesary**

**to clear the air and add a new direction to the plot of this story!  
tell me what you think..? please review. i love reviews, they urge me to write bigger and better chappies. so...**

**but there is no pressure. **

**anyway, on the same note. i would like the thanl the following people for reviewing:**

**- FangsGirl823- thanx heaps for the feedback and constant support i really appreciate it. :D  
- Gummy Bear- thank you for allllll the constructive criticism. i REALLY appreciate the effort. :)**

**- HeAt-StRoKe- thank you soo much. i appreciate your review every time. it really helps to hear all the positives!**

**ok guys, so those are the amazingly wonderful people that reviewed the last chapter.**

**finally, i have a proposition. how bout 10 reviews please... and ill have some FAX REALLY soon.**

**i know it is a lot to ask for, but i am human, and i do carry the self-satisfaction gene... **

**anyway,**

**i have to go hit the hay. its real late here is Aus.**

**Goodnight (sweat dreams),**

**Beeni.  
**


	10. Chapter 10

**ok, hi guys, its me again**

**i decided to give u a double update this week, because it is my birthday on Friday!**

**ill be giving you one today, and then one on Friday. **

**i decided that i might make things a little different this time...**

**read and review on what you think**

* * *

Okay, so I'll admit it. I did not expect to find Fang, of all people, to be running around in forest at this time of night. I mean, knowing his selfish and undesired attitude, I had imagined him to be asleep, warm and cosy in his tent, happy that I had finally left him alone.

I cleared my head and looked down at him once again, he had not noticed Abraxis yet, and was running as fast as he could with a worried look on his face. I snorted at the sight of any emotion on _his_ face. I wonder what he was so worried about. _It's not that hard to guess either. _I heard Abraxis chuckle into my head. Okay, this whole wisdom thing was really getting to me, I mean we were supposed to be one right? So why all the secrets? _Because dragons also have a sworn promise to the knowledge they have, we can not disclose information before it is needed or necessary. It is a punishable act, it found out. Also, you will know all that I do in time, do not be so impatient. Everything has a time. _Again with the wisdom. I give up on ever asking. It was so frustrating. Everyone knew more about me than I did. First Fang and now Abraxis.

Focusing my attention back on the matter at hand I looked down at Fang once more and saw him halt mid-step, looking up. He had finally heard the heavy beating of Abraxis's wings. It's not something you can miss so easily, it wasn't really a light beating. It was pretty darn loud. But, I had to give it to him. He seemed preoccupied in his little worry fit. He was now looking up at Abraxis with a look of pure shock and awe on his face. I think he still hadn't notice me and I was happy. I was glad he hadn't seen me yet. I mean all he would do is make some smart comment, then ignore me, then talk to me and then ignore me again. I mean that is what he was good at right? Letting people know how important they are. Sarcasm intended.

I was shaken from my trail of thought as Abraxis slightly moved sideways, putting me in the direct view of Fang. I gave her a stern look, only to me met by a slight chuckle. Agitated by the situation, I looked down at Fang, who had a look on his face that I couldn't quite register. There was relief? Worry? Shock? And the most shocking of all, reassurance? Okay, so this was weird. Actually no it wasn't. He was about to start the cycle of emotion again. Acknowledgement, ignorance, total disregard, caring and then back to the start again. Frankly, I was not about to put up with that crap again. I turned away from him and patted Abraxis on the shoulder, telling her to keep going, but she started landing, against all my protests. _You need to face him Max. Everyone makes mistakes you know. _Yeah well not the same ones every single day, I thought back bitterly. But for some reason Abraxis just ignored me and landed smoothly. I sat there for a long time, just looking ahead. I would not talking to him.

I had been perfectly content with my life before he had come along. I mean, yeah I had been held captive, but honestly at least I knew the intentions of those that were around me and wasn't ignored. Even though the attention I did get was never good. I had known where my life was going. Now, I was in the middle of nowhere with someone I couldn't care less about. He had taken me away form the little protection the cold walls of the Forte _had _provided. The only good thing that had come of this sudden turn of events would have to be meeting the dragons. Other than that, all that had happened concerning my feelings, thoughts and ideas was disregarded. And to be honest with you, I think I could live without being treated like that again. So I sat there in all my stubbornness, not looking anywhere but at Abraxis's smooth skin, concentrating on the the smooth feeling as I rubbed my hand against her scales.

I don't know how long I sat there in the middle of a very awkward silence, but it seemed like hours, before Fang finally spoke. "You know, you didn't need to run away like that. Do you know the dangers in these woods. I mean at least regard other peoples safety if you don't care about yourself. Did it ever occur to you the danger you had put.." Okay, that was it! I stopped listening there, anger building at his every word. I had had enough of this. You'd think that he would learn something from the mini rant I had had with him before I had run away. But no, I believe there was only one thing he ever thought about. Himself. That was all he was concerned with. It did not matter if I was alright, or if I deserved an apology or maybe if that was too much for his ego, then at least some sign of care. I was cut off my trail of thought by him shouting "Are you even listening to me, or am I just lecturing myself." Okay. That was the Final straw. I looked up at him fury and rage boiling up inside me at the sight of him. And then I erupted.

"Is that all you ever care about. You don't give a thought to anyone else do you! Its all about you and only you. Well, I'm tired of having to pick up the pieces and making everything better after your little tantrums. I can't take this any more. I don't know how you were brought up, but where I grew up it was common courtesy to at least acknowledge another persons feelings, even if you don't care." I looked at his face to see trace of hurt flash across his features before it was replaced by the same impassive look he had given me the last time we had had the same argument. Frustrated, I got off Abraxis and ran towards the thick trees, "Don't even think of coming after me this time. I don't need you any more than you need me. I was doing fine without you, and I'm sure I can handle it again now." With that I ran away into the woods and didn't even look back at his face. I felt more hurt than I could remember. My stomach felt like I was going to throw up. But I kept going, I would not let him take advantage of me like that ever again.

I ran faster and faster, ignoring the light-headedness that consumed my body. Before I knew what was going on, I fell to the floor. That was the last thing I remembered before darkness consumed me. Putting me into a peaceful sleep.

Fang POV

I had screwed up again. I don't know what comes over me every time I talk to her. All I could do to cover it up was become angry at her. I pushed her away like I do to everyone. For some reason she matter to me. No one had ever mattered to me the same way she did, except for my family back home. She was the first person I cared about other than my immediate family, and to be honest, I had no idea what to do.

Okay, so lets backtrack slightly, to give you a better image of what had happened. We had stopped at a small clearing earlier on in the evening.

_*Flashback*_

_I watched as Max stood at the other side of the clearing, trying but failing at assembling her tent. She seemed so content in completing the task that she didn't notice me walk up to her. Okay, I can do this, I can not screw this up like all the last times. She still seemed angry as her thoughts, that I had tried so hard to block, came crushing to my head due to our close proximity. I still needed to practise shielding. _

_Yes, I'm a mind reader. Unlike others I had been born with this. You see normally two people who are soul mates can read each others thoughts as a form of binding there love. Even then the power still only develops after a person has had their full training. My father had told me that my power was a gift from the gods as a sign of my royal blood. It had been born with it. And yes again, I am a prince, a dragon prince to be exact. She didn't know any of this, and I planned to keep it that way for as long as possible. Another one of my many responsibilities. _

_I shook my head and looked back at Max, who was now crouched over the some rods, trying to figure out what to do, seeing as I had assembled her tent for her last time. I moved forward in order to help her but she suddenly jumped into some sort of fighting stance and looked up at me. Once she realised that it was only me, her features slightly relaxing, but her face was still as stern as ever and she looked at me questioningly. "I thought you were having trouble with your tent, so I decided to come and help." I answered her look. She thought about it for a second. Her thoughts flowing into my head, before quickly shooting me a menacing look and saying "I can handle it myself", and turning her back towards me. I watched her for a few moment, smirking at her thoughts, which filled my head. After watching for a little longer I decided that it was about time I helped her and picked up a rod, placing into the ground. She looked at me with annoyed and questioning look on her face, before reaching out to grab the rod out of my hand. I moved my hand out of her reach and said "It's not that bad to ask for help, if you don't understand something." With that I started to assemble the tent, as she watched my every move. When I finished, I looked up at her, to see her stuck in her own trail of thought. _

_She had a very cute look on her face, as she argued with herself, her thought easily readable. Okay, you know what lets all ignore the last sentence. Anyway, I watched her stand there, staring into space. A sudden longing to touch her face came over me. I restrained my hand as it itched to touch her soft lips. Their pink colour looked beautiful on her pale face. Her brown eyes sparkled with a new-found determination as she thought about all the reasons she hated me. I pulled back my hand before it could touch her and walked away to the centre of the camp, starting to look for fire wood. Why had I done that? What was wrong with. I knew I couldn't do this and yet here I was about to break the carefully set out barrier I had created between us. I blocked her thoughts out of my head and looked away from her. I didn't want anything like this from her. I couldn't have this. _

_I moved around collecting fire wood, until I felt her approach me. She grabbed my arm and I internally cringed as her rough thoughts entered my head. "Okay, what is up with you. One minute you like me and the next you don't. Then you always give a mixed message, leaving me hanging. What is this? I have feeling too you know. And to be honest, it doesn't seem like you think so." she paused before continuing. "I will not continue this journey with you, until you explain yourself. All I'm asking is for you to stop giving me the cold shoulder and actually acknowledge my presence. I don't need or want you to care, but at least give some thought to my existence." And with that she ran into the woods and out of my sight. Leaving me stunned as I stood there and watched after her._

_*End Flashback*_

I had spent hours after that waiting for her to come back, but she never did. I remembered the sudden sense of panic that had consumed me at the thought of her being gone forever. The first thought that had hit me was if she was okay. But for some reason I kept assuring myself that she didn't matter to me. Then I realised that my quest would be jeopardised if I didn't find her. I would fail, and a dragon prince never fails. With those thoughts I had quickly packed both our travel sacks and placed them in the middle of the clearing and started running as fast as I could in the direction that she had left.

Now, here I stood, having had almost the same argument with her that I had had with her earlier. Except only then I hadn't had a really intimidating looking dragon looking down at me with a stern look on its face. I still couldn't process the fact that the sea dragon was her kin. It was one of the most rare dragons to be seen in the land. It was described as savage ans said to lash out at any human which tried to come close to it. Yet here it was in all its glory standing before me. The most shocking part being that Max had been riding it.

When they had first landed I had stood there, thinking it was the end of me, seeing as the Water Dragon standing before me, not looking too happy. Until off coarse, it had moved slightly to reveal and annoyed looking Max on its back. My shock didn't stop there. I had stood there for what seemed like forever, just staring at what was before me, before finally deciding was angry at Max for running away like she had. I hadn't really done anything, and she had lashed out at me and then completely disappeared for a hell of a long time, leaving me worried. I remember my words as I had shouted at her, and to be honest, I really didn't mean much of what I had said about her not caring. But she had not been listening to me, exploding at me in mid-thought and then running away as she had before.

Now here is stood as the one of the most powerful dragons on the land, excluding Sabre, stood there staring me down sternly. _If she really does mean something to you young prince, then why all the anger? _I looked at the dragon questioningly, was it communicating with me? I wasn't its kin. _There is much that even you do not understand. But I will tell you one thing. You and Max are connected in more than just one way. Your destinies are intertwined. She is as much a part of your great future as you re of hers. _I looked down at the ground confused. Was it talking about my destiny as a prince? Then I realised what I meant. Why father had wanted her so much. This was the person Sabre had seen in my future. She was the one he would not tell me about. The only secret we had. I stood there for a very long time as everything started to fall into place. My life becoming a little easier without all the missing pieces.

A sudden jolt of longing filled me as I thought of Max when she had run away from me. I had screwed up again. And big time this time. Why had I been so ignorant of Sabre's words? Why did I have to be so annoyed at everyone for hiding these things from me? Only to realise that I was losing a vital piece of my future. I let out a frustrated sigh and looked up at the dragon. _You may call me Abraxis. _I nodded and looked in the direction Max had run. I felt a sense of fear kick in as Max's face flashed through my head. _She needs you right now Fang. She needs someone. She has experienced too much pain already. _Without thinking I turned and started running in the direction she had left, Abraxis's words filling my head as I ran faster and faster.

I kept running until I saw a figure laying by a tree. Panic kicked in as I realised it was Max. Her beautiful pale skin and messy blonde hair was unmistakeable. I quickly ran up to her and knelt down by her body, feeling for her pulse at the side of her neck. I felt a jolt of lightning run through me as my fingers touched her soft skin. To my relief, she was still alive, but her body lay there motionless, her chest moving up and down in a slow rhythm as she took small breaths. I felt a gust of wind hit my back and turned to see Abraxis landing behind me. _She is fine, I can still communicate with her. We just need to wait for her to wake up. She is merely resting. _A breath I did not know I was holding escaped my lips as I relief filled me. She was fine and for some reason my soul felt at rest for once in a very long time, all worries forgotten. _She does not know anything about what I have told you and I would like to keep it that way until the time is right. It is not good for her to know of such things at the moment. _With that she lifted her wings and took off into the air. _ I shall be back later, I will go and collect your belongings from where you had camped before. _I nodded and turned back to Max. resting my head on the tree behind me, while moving her body and placing her head in my lap. I sat there for a while, looking at the sky, littered with stars. It was almost dawn and my eyes and began to close. Much needed sleep consuming me.

* * *

**ok, so thats it. what did you guys think?**

**should i do another Fang POV later?  
was is any good? or should i stick to just Max?**

**Please tell me.**

**In other news now, because i didn't get the 10 reviews last chapter, i did not include FAX. ive decided that im gonna run this story on its own pace. But, i will say this, there will be FAX really soon. Just not too major, until a bit more of the story has progressed. **

**so im not gonna promise any FAX before ive planned for it to happen, because then the story takes a new line and thats all it focuses on.**

**Also, i would like to thank the following people for reviewing:**

**- Angeltales321- thank you very much. i appreciate the comment a lot.**

**- conti siegel- Thanks! i appreciate all the good stuff you guys write to me!  
- HeAt-StRoKe- Thankyou sooo much. i appreciate you complement and i hope i can improve from where i am already**

**- Gummy Bear- I appreciate the Very long review. it made my day, honest. thanks for all the feedback. im glad that your happy with where this is headed. i appreciate all the good comments that you give my writing, they mean a lot to me. thank you. also, im sorry for the typos, but i tried to correct them in this chappie. i did the main flashback just to clear the air on what was really happening in that conversation. so i hope its clearer now. :) Your review was great (breathtaking) ;). i appreciate it all. thanks again.**

**- JezabelStrike- i also appreciate your awesome review. thanks heaps. **

**- Lives2fly- i appreciate the idea. and i will consider it. thank you soooo much for reviewing. **

**- FangsGirl823- thank you as always. i appreciate your reviews. i love you. :)**

**ok guys, so thanks again. you have no idea how much each and every word of yours means to me. i really appreciate it. **

**please review and answer my questions. i appreciate all the feedback. and also tell me what you think.**

**thanks guys!**

**Beeni.**

**P.S. sorry about any writing errors. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi, guys.**

**firstly, 50 REVIEWS ARE AMAZING. THANK YOU ALL. i wouldn't be here without all of you. **

**i love you all fro all the support and reviews i got for the last chapter.**

**i'm so sorry, i didn't update yesterday, like i had said. its just that i was busy, due to the fact that it was my birthday. i had the chapter ready, i just couldn't find the time to post this.**

**anyway, enough talk, on with the story.**

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I woke up to the slow sound of rustling leaves in the forest, as the branches of trees swayed in the cold breeze that had begun. Looking around, I saw the sun was shining and the birds and other animals of the forest were up and about, scurrying around. As I looked around, I moved, to get up from where I had been sleeping, only to be held back by something holding me by the waist. Confused, I looked down to see an arm wrapped around my stomach lightly, stopping me from moving. Sudden panic filled me as I realised I was in the control of someone else, but I still did not move. Something about the arm made me feel safe. I turned my head around to see who my captor was, only to be shocked even more by the sight before me. There, resting his head against the tree, lay Fang, with a slight smile on his face, happily sleeping without a care in the world. I didn't move, I lay there just looking up at his face, taking in his sleeping figure.

A cold gust of wind brought me back to my senses as I realised the full extent of the situation I was in. I was lying down on the forest floor, with my head in Fangs lap, his arm around my waist for, I'm assuming, the remainder of the night after our little argument. As the feeling of hatred returned form the night before, I quickly shot up and a looking down at him angrily. He seemed to stir at my sudden movement and then in a second, his eyes shot open and met mine. For a second he just looked at me, with an emotion in his eyes that I couldn't quite decipher. Uncomfortable under his gaze, I turned away with an angry look. No way was I going to give in to him that easily. I took a slight peek at him to see his reaction only to see an amused look on his face, quickly replaced as he realised I was looking, with the same impassive look he always had. Even further confused I decided I wasn't going to talk to him unless he decided to explain.

Memories flooded my head reminding me of what had happened that night. How I had fallen unconscious, Abraxis urging me to fight against the pain, telling me to stay alive. Then all that I remember is waking up now. I had a feeling that something had happened while I was out, and I was determined to find out. But not before Fang apologised for what he had said and done. I was not going to settle for less this time. I would get an apology out of him, or he could kiss his little quest goodbye. I saw him get up from his position next to the large oak tree and dust off any any leaves and dirt form his clothing. Still with my back to him, I waited for him to speak and explain himself, as this was the third time he had done the exact opposite of what I had told him. I mean, I had thought he would be happy to get rid of me and _not_ come after me yet again, after my clear instructions.

I'm not sure how long I stood there and waited for him to make the first move, but let me tell you, he has a huge ego. Considering the fact that I had to turn around and given him my best death glare, before he uttered a single word and even then he didn't apologise. "We need to get moving, Abraxis has gone to collect our belonging form where I left them at our old camp-site. Sabre will be waiting for us at the river end by noon today, and we can not keep the others waiting." he informed me, looking at me for a response. I continued to ignore him and looked away, walking towards the nearest tree and seating myself in front of it, waiting for Abraxis. I would not talk to him or even acknowledge his presence until he decided to apologise. "Don't you think this whole anger thing is getting a little old now." he said. I glared at him and he held my gaze, before turning away, his eyes filling with an emotion I couldn't understand. All I knew was that it made me feel uncomfortable yet again. But I kept looking at him, not giving in to his little tricks. I hear him snort and I look up at him, confused. But again, I get no response.

At that moment Abraxis lands in front of me blocking my view of Fang all together. _I couldn't stand any more of your bickering, you both go on like little children. _I looked at Abraxis, thinking, he needs to learn to apologise and let go of his ego for once in his life. _I've decided that I'm not going to interfere with this. You both have to solve your problems on your own. Now, until then we have to get moving, the others are waiting for us to arrive and we need to be there on time. _I was staring to get annoyed at my lack of knowledge on the issue. For starters, who are the _others_ and why do we need to meet them so soon. Secondly, who was the dragon prince that I was supposed to have a connection with. And thirdly, why was Abraxis speaking as if he was referring to both of us rather than just me. Too many questions that I knew I wouldn't get a response for even if I asked nicely. _You are learning. Do not worry, all will be revealed to you when its needed. _I just sighed and nodded, no point in arguing there.

* * *

We have been walking for what seems like forever, towards the river end where we were supposed to meet up with Sabre. My legs had a slight ache and my breathing was slightly uneven. But I would not give up. I had to be strong. I couldn't have a moment of weakness, I needed to toughen up. I needed to take care of myself again, like I had at the Forte. I had become too dependent on Fang in the past few days, and I needed to get back on my own feet, seeing the result of the dependency I had on him. I walked at a steady pace, beside Abraxis with Fang trailing a few feet behind us. It was becoming more and more tempting to ride Abraxis, but I needed to do this. I had to prove to myself as much as others that I could handle this sort of work.

Looking up from the ground I saw the light of the clearing at the end of the forest as it cleared to reveal a river bank. The water looked like dark blue gems from this far, sparkling in the sunlight. I smiled a triumphant smile as I realised I had gone the whole journey without any assistance. I beamed at the thought and turned back to look at Fang, he seemed to be absorbed in some sort of thought because when he did look up at me, he had and a confused but also amused look on his face. I seemed to be humouring him too much lately, something was definitely up. I turned back towards Abraxis and ignored the feeling I got in my stomach because of the look that Fang had given me. He seemed to have finally gotten the idea that I wanted to be left alone. After a few attempts to start conversation, at the beginning of out journey, he had realised that I had meant it when I said I wanted to be left alone. Abraxis kept telling me that I should go a little easier on him judging from his background and what he's used to. When I asked what she meant, she didn't reply as usual, leaving me hanging.

I looked around the forest, the weather was still cool, just like it had been this morning. The leaves were still now, calm in the mid-morning sun. Birds were flying around the forest, making me want to join them. I had always wanted to fly, it just seamed to be the so fascinating to look at everything from above. I guess the closest I was going to get to it was with Abraxis, which, to tell you the truth, was the most amazing thing I had ever experienced. I felt so free on her, like I had no worry in the world. But, then again, don't we all wish we could skip reality forever. Frankly, I didn't really feel very welcome around here, with Fangs attitude and all.

Sighing, I looked up and realised we had reached the edge of the forest. As I assessed my surrounding, I couldn't help but notice the way Abraxis had the same coloured scales as the water, a deep Royal Blue. They sparkled the same way the water did in the sunlight, light radiating off them in every direction. I stood there and stared in awe, my mouth hanging the slightest bit at her beauty. I was brought back to reality by the sound of a heavy wing-beat. I looked up to see Sabre land on the river bank. His midnight black scales standing out against the blue and green scenery of trees and water. _And how are you, Max? _I heard him ask in my head. I smiled and nodded "I'm good" I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. But it came out with a slightly sad edge to my voice. He seemed to notice and just nodded as if understanding my problems with Fang. _He can be like that. You must understand that it's hard for him, especially with-_ he abruptly stopped and looked at Fang, discontinuing whatever he was about to say.

I knew Fang had said something to him, or else he would have told me, and probably taken me out of my misery of having to keep playing this guessing game I was a part. Abraxis seemed to pick up on my mood. _Lets get going then. _Sabre slightly bowed his head in response and Fang climbed on to his back. I followed suite, and climbed onto Abraxis's back, successfully positioning myself where I had been sitting last time. The next thing I knew, Abraxis leapt off the ground and into the air, in one swift motion, slowly flying higher and higher into the sky. I looked down and saw as the Forest get smaller and smaller. I had never been this high up before. Last time we had only gone a bit off the ground, considering we had seen the _light_ running through the forest. I looked beside us to see Sabre a few feet away, with Fang on his back, looking ahead, the wind blowing his hair back off his face. He seemed so calm and peaceful, almost happy, which, let me tell you, I had never seen him look before.

I hadn't realised that I had started to lose balance on Abraxis' back until I heard her let out a small squeal inside my head. The next thing I knew I was falling at extreme speeds through the air, towards whatever was beneath us. We were too high for me to see what exactly was beneath us. For some strange reason I didn't scream and just kept falling without pain. I was suddenly stopped by a hand grabbing and pulling me upwards with such force, my arm could have been ripped off my body. I felt tears well up in my eyes as the air entered them abruptly due to my sudden stop and made them hurt I shut them as tightly a I could, swallowing the pain. When I opened them again I was being pulled up, hanging in the air like bait for any large creature. I looked up to meet Fangs' worried eyes as he pulled me up onto Sabre. Abraxis was flying above them roaring loudly as if in pain.

_Are you alright Max?. Do you have any burns?. _I heard Abraxis ask in a worried tone. I just shook my head from where I was dangling. I was finally close enough to climb onto Sabre's back, only to be pulled into Fangs tight embrace. "Don't even think of ever doing that again." he said, his voice muffled in my hair. Shocked by his sudden actions I looked up at him to see a genuinely worried look on his face. I just nodded my head, still having trouble forming words. He seemed to realise our position of close proximity and slowly moved away. "I'm sorry for whatever I did before. I really didn't mean to upset you. I'm just not used to all of this." He seemed to want to continue but his eyes widened and he quickly turned around to face Sabre, before Abraxis slowly flew close enough for me to to move back onto her back. This time I held on tightly.

I decided I was going to forgive Fang. After his little mini-rant, I kind of felt sorry for him. Whatever it was that was hard on him seemed to have a huge toll on him and it didn't seem fair for me to judge him just by what I had picked up on in the past few days, especially considering all the missing pieces that I didn't know about his life.

We flew for quite a while after that. I looked around the whole time, still finding it hard to decipher the fact that I was on a dragons back and actually flying. It was pretty cold this high up and I was snuggled up against Abraxis' back, taking in the warmth of her body. It was so peaceful up here, not a thing in sight for miles. My thoughts were interrupted a very loud noise, that seemed to sound like a loud roar, coming from below us. I looked down, only to see fog and mist, covering my view of what was below us. Panic filled me at the thought of another creature being close. Considering the close proximity of the noise, I was taking a lucky guess that it was a dragon. I looked around at Abraxis and Fang, both seemed calm, as if nothing had happened. _Do not worry, its just some friends, nothing to worry about. _Abraxis assured me. But for some reason the feeling of panic didn't go as nerves kicked in at the mention of another dragon. I mean, they weren't supposed to be the _friendliest _of creatures.

As I was having my little panic attack, I didn't notice that large mountain that had come into view. I only realised the sudden change of scenery when I felt Abraxis slowly start to descend onto the mountain. The fog had cleared and the sun shone out of the clouds above the mountains. The chill of the air had slightly decreased, and the sun sent a warm feeling into my whole body. I looked around to see dragons flying everywhere, over and around he mountain. As we got closer, I saw small houses on the mountain with little people walking around, minding their own business. My vision suddenly zoomed in and I smiled as I realised what Abraxis was doing. All at once the people seemed so clear against the mountain and I could tell one face from the other.

As we approached the mountain I felt Abraxis point her head slightly upwards, toward a large structure at the very top of the mountain. _Hold on tight now, Max, I need to do an almost vertical climb. Secure your legs tightly onto me and hold on tight. _I obeyed, not wanting to have what happen before happen again. As I secured myself tightly against Abraxis, she suddenly flew up with great speed at an almost vertical angle. As we zoomed past and above people, they stopped what they were doing and looked up at Abraxis, some in shock and others in awe. Then all of a sudden everyone started to panic and move into homes and inns. I heard Abraxis chuckle in my head and slow down slightly. I then realised what was going on. The people were afraid of the great water dragon. I felt a sudden smirk make its way onto my face as I realised the full affect of Abraxis on the people. I looked towards Fang who was on Sabres' back beside us. He seemed to be in some sort of deep thought, not paying attention to what was going on. Shrugging, I turned back to the people, only to realise that the homes had disappeared from view and now in their place were large fields and meadows full of all sorts of fruits and vegetables. More than I had ever seen in my entire life.

As we flew further and further to the top of the mountain, Abraxis picked up speed again before a large fortress came into view and she moved back into a horizontal position above a small field in front of the fortress, landed abruptly. I sat there staring at the beautiful structure before me. It was made of a sparkling sandstone, with a large lake out front. Each rooms balcony had rose vines trailing across it and onto surrounding walls. The air smelled so fresh with an aroma of roses, so beautiful that I could stand here and smell it all day. I was never used to seeing such luxury.

My shock was added to as a large red dragon landed before us, with a man on its back, wearing a helmet and armour marked by an emblem with the picture of two dragons, one blue and one black, encircling each other and a sword in the middle. The man lifted his helmet off his head and bowed his head slightly before looking back up and walking towards Fang, who had gotten off Sabre and now stood beside him. "Si.." the man began to say, but was cut off by a look from Fang and a slight nod of his head, indicating him to come closer. As the man got closer, Fang whispered something to him and he slightly relaxed, smiling a little before continuing to say what he was about to.

"How was your trip Fang?" he asked, pausing a little before saying Fangs' name. Slightly confused by what was happening in front of me. Fang seemed to sense this and looked at me smirking to himself slightly, before turning around and talking to the guardsman. I decided not to listen, and slowly got off Abraxis. As my feet touched the ground, I stumbled slightly but held on to Abraxis for support. My legs ached and I found it hard to walk, as I had been sitting with my legs apart for a very long time.

As I adjusted to walking again, I saw Fang had finished talking to the guard who was now getting back o his dragon and taking off. I looked back at fang only to catch another amused look on his face as he watched me try to regain my balance. What amazed me the most was the fact that he seemed to be walking around effortlessly. His eyes twinkled with laughter as he looked at me, even more amused by something. I sighed and walked around in circles, finally regaining some of my balance. I looked back at him and smiled triumphantly before walking up to him and standing right in before of him, to get a better view of my surroundings. My breath caught at the view from the top of the mountain. The many valleys and fields bellow coloured the vast landscape with a beauty I had never seen before. The towns streets were still abandoned, with very few people daring to walk around in the presence of Abraxis.

"Don't take it all in now, leave some for later. I mean you will be staying here from now on." Fang said, interrupting my thoughts. I looked at him standing beside me and just nodded. It was all I could bring myself to do. I mean, its not all the time you are told that you will be living in probably one of the most divine structures of the land. "We need to get moving and I need to unsaddle Sabre. M- I mean, the queen will be waiting for us inside." I looked at him questioningly, urging him to tell me what he had been about to say. He only smirked and started walking towards Sabre. I followed behind him slowly. This might be interesting.

* * *

**ok, so what do u think?  
i had a bit of a writers block half way through, but i recovered. **

**i hope it meets all your expectations. im sorry if i didn't satisfy anyone. tell me if there is something.**

**first, thank you to all the people that wished me happy birthday. some of you asked how old i was. well i just turned 16. **

**secondly, the best present i got yesterday was your reviews guys. thanks. i love you**

**thirdly, would like to thank the following wonderful people for reviewing:**

**- AishaY- thanks aisha. i appreciate you reading my story and liking it. it means a lot. and im serious :D**

**- JezabelStrike- thank you fro the birthday wish. i did enjoy my birthday. i appreciate your review. i hope you like this one too**

**- Froyogirl27- thank you. i appreciate it.**

**- FangsGirl823- thank you sooooooooooooooo much. i love you heaps. i really appreciate your birthday song, it meant a lot. its nice to see that you like the last chapter and the Fang POV. ill add one in every once in a while. like i said above, i turned 16. also, thanx for the suggestion. it wasn't a bad idea. i might have one in there at some point. also, i appreciate ALLLLL your support. thank you sooo much again. and go the Aries. **

**- twinkychick-244- hi parwa. thanks for the review. on all the chapters. but i plan to keep the suspense if yo know what i mean? charlie ;)**

**- oOo KitKat oOo- thanks for the review and the birthday wish i reallyyyyyy appreciate it. i hope your friend had a good birthday too.**

**- Gummy Bear- thanks HEAPS. i really really appreciate all of your comments. im glad that you like the Fang POV. it was designed to add a twist to what was going on. so im happy that you liked it. thanks for the birthday wish. im glad the flashback helped. lots of love from me.**

**- HeAt-StRoKe- thankyou soo much. i appreciate your comment. it is really nice to hear from you all the time. **

**- tatertot72015- thank you. it means a lot. **

**- Angeltales321- thanks for the advice. i agree with what your saying. too much of fang is beside the point of the story. thanks :D**

**- gsfhgw- im not sure what you mean, but i tried to separate my paragraphs this time. i hopes its better. :)**

**- Anonymous- yes ther will be fax later on. but just not yet. :)**

**ok people thank you so much. as i said before, im sorry for the later update.**

**all your reviews meant a lot to me. and as i mentioned above i am so happy that we made it to 50 reviews. i love you people a lot. if it weren't for each and everyone of you, i wouldn't be where i am right now. so thanks for all the reviews. now, i'm aiming for 100. and hopefully we can fulfill that too together. thakyou. I LOVE YOU. **

**i hope you liked this chapter. please review and tell me. **

**also, im sorry for any errors.**

**ok i have to sign off now. its getting late now. **

**Beeni.**


	12. Chapter 12

**hi guys, sorry for the late update. i know i am a day late. but i have a valid excuse, i got sick and had work to do. two not so goos combinations.**

**also, last chapter, someone suggested i should space my story. so i did. tell me if it worked..**

**ok then, on with the story...**

* * *

As we got closer and closer to the fortress, I began the realise the enormity of the structure properly. The gigantic pillars at the front of the house, extended so high that I had to squint in order to get a glimpse of the were they ended.

As I marvelled the structure, Fang walked ahead, not giving the beauty more than a glance, ignorantly walking ahead as if he owned the place. I looked up to see him smirking, as he looked at me. I gave him a questioning look, only to receive a casual shrug as he turned towards the the large fortress doors.

I looked around and noticed the neatness of the area. The garden that circled the large lake at the centre of the grassy field out front, added a great amount of colour to its lightly coloured surroundings. I breathed in, filling my lungs as I admire the overall beauty of the place.

A scent of fresh lily's filled me and I smiled at the unrealistic feeling I was getting at the sight of everything that was before me. Every now and then I get a feeling that I'm dreaming and that I would soon wake up and be back at the Forte, trapped once again. But as every minute passed, I convinced myself more and more that this was real. And it felt good.

Again I looked up at Fang to see there was a smirk on his lips as he looked at me wish an amused look. I gave him a glare and was about to shout at him for smirking at me like that all the time, when I realised there was a figure standing beside him smiling at me.

The woman had dark hair, but not like Fangs, just a few shades lighter. Her light brown eyes were welcoming and smiling, just like the look on her face. She was dressed in a Royal Blue coloured silk dress, showing her curves in all the right areas, and had a thick fur cloak wrapped around her shoulders, covering her bare skin.

As I looked her I up and down, I notice a small tiara nicely fitted up against her hair, which was pulled up into a lose bun. There was something about her that reminded me of Fang, but I just couldn't put a finger on it.

As I stared at the woman standing before me, Fang slightly coughed and I broke my gaze from hers, my cheeks turning a few shades darker. She smiled at me and turned to Fang.

"Well, who have we got here?" He looked at me and slightly smirked before turning back to her.

"This is Max, your majesty. She is the girl I was sent to retrieve form the the southern emperors Forte." A felt a sudden sinking feeling as I heard him say he was _told_ to retrieve me from the Forte.

The woman nodded and suddenly I realised who she was. I had stood there like an idiot in front of the _Queen_, just staring at her. I mentally face-palmed myself and recovered from my ignorant stance, bowing and looking down, slightly embarrassed. She laughed.

"You don't need to show such formalities. You are our guest, I should be welcoming _you _with open arms." I looked at her to see she had a smile on her face.

I smiled back and before I knew what was going on, she embraced me with a tight hug. For a second I stood there like a brick wall, not knowing what to do, before slowly moving my arms up around her.

As she let go of me, she nodded at Fang.

"I see my S-" she was about to continue before she was cut off by something behind me. I turned around to see Fang standing there just smiling. Again she nodded slightly.

"As I was saying, the servants have arranged a room for you. We could not get you any dresses, seeing as we did not know your size. But now that your here, that will need to be taken care of. I shall have Nudge tell the seamstress to pay us a visit as soon as you have rested. Your chamber is ready, but it still has castle coloured towels and sheets. When you have rested we shall speak of your colour choices and preferences as to the furnitures arrangement. Until then, Welcome to Argos. Please make yourself at home." she finished.

I just stood there trying to take in what she had just said. I was pretty sure that my mouth was slightly hanging open. I was definitely not used to such treatment. It all still seemed so unreal. I just nodded my head and stood there in shock. I could get used to this.

I was brought back to reality by the Queen's voice. I looked up to see had started to walk towards the large door leading inside the fortress. I looked around and noticed that Fang was nowhere to be seen.

Sighing, I smiled and started to walk towards the queen. She smiled back and gestured for me to follow. As we walked inside the fortress, I stopped dead in my tracks, just staring at what was before me. It was beautiful.

The interior was a lighter shade of sandstone than the one outside. The large room we had entered was full of beautiful furniture. There were really comfy looking sofas and at the centre surrounding a medium sized glass table.

The walls were covered with portraits of different people. I recognised one of the queen and a large family portrait at the far end of the room. There were three people in the picture. The woman looked like the queen form this far, but I could not quite see who the other to were from a distance.

It wasn't a very large portrait. Only covering a small proportion of the wall. One of the men in the picture looked very familiar, but before I could put two and tow together, the queen called me to come with her to the next room. I would come back and get a better look at this room later.

As we climbed the stairs to the second level of the fortress, my head buzzed with excitement. There was so much to look at. I would have to allocate a special day to go around and explore the whole fortress. It was so beautiful. As we walked down the hallway of the second floor, I looked around and noticed that it was full of doors, all leading to different rooms I assumed.

"We need all the rooms for when we have large parties and there are many guest. Most of them also hold many things like spare furniture and other things that we need on different occasions." the queen explained.

I nodded and smiled. I had not spoken since we had entered the fortress, it was hard to be speak when admiring such beauty.

As we reached a room at the center of the hallway, the queen stopped and opened the door and gestured for me to follow her in.

Right at the centre of the room was a large bed with lavender coloured sheets and pillows, all different shades of purple. The bed faced a large set of glass doors, leading to what seemed like a balcony. There were light purple coloured curtains on either sides of the large doors and beside them was another white door.

"That leads to your bathroom." the queen explained.

I just nodded like before and looked around. At the other end of the room was a dressing, with a large mirror and multiple drawers. A few feet away were anther two doors, this time wood coloured and polished.

"Those lead to your closet. I hope the size is alright." I looked at the queen with wide eyes.

"It's all great your majesty. I love everything, thank you. It's just that I am not used to such things, please do not take me not talking as a rude gesture." The queen laughed at my comment.

"Off coarse not Max. But please don't refer to me with such formality, just call me Valencia, or Val." She smiled and continued.

"As I said earlier, we could not arrange for any clothes, so I hope the ones you have on at the moment are alright for now. As soon as you are rested, we shall call a seamstress. Also, we will arrange for you to chose your other things after that. For now though, I have to go and take care of some things. I will send Nudge up to you. She will be your serving girl from here on in. It is her duty to help you in anything that you need. Don't hesitate to ask her." With that she gave me a small smile and left the room, closing the door behind her.

For a second I just stood there pinching myself, before reality dawned on me and I did a very Un-Max-Like thing and squealed. I stood there for another minute with a huge smile on my face, before I jumped on my bed and started jumping around. I could never remember having a real was so soft and comfortable.

As I lay there I gazed out the double-doors leading to the balcony. The sun was setting and the sky was tinted with a beautiful orange colour. I got up and walked towards the doors and opened them, stepping out into the balcony and leading against the sandstone rails, admiring the view of the quiet hills in the horizon.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" I jumped at the sound of the voice.

I turned around to see a girl standing behind me smiling. She wore a simple violet gown, and plain black sandals. She had light brown mocha coloured skin and beautiful large brown eyes. Her hair was heavily curled and stopped at point a little below her shoulders. She had it pulled back slightly, and had a smile plastered on her face. She seemed to be my age or a little younger.

"Hello, my name is Nudge and I will be your serving girl from here on in." she smiled.

"I'm not exactly used to the whole idea of having someone working for me. But there is always a first time for everything. Though I don't think I will need much help chore-wise, but I do need a help getting used to this. So how about we be friends?" I suggested, not knowing what would happen.

I had never had a real friend before and plus, she seemed sweet. Something about her made me just open up to her. A huge smile spread across her face and she squealed and hugged me. I stood there shocked for the second time today, before she pulled away with a worried look on her face.

"Was that too much?" she asked. I just smiled.

"No, don't worry. I just wasn't expecting that. Plus, I'm not really a hugger. If you know what I mean." She just nodded and smiled.

"Well, seeing as you are new to this, I will have to introduce you to everyone else. But first I have been told to get you a bath running and guide you through the things that in this room. Also, I think I needed to help you chose dresses and clothes after your bath. You are so pretty, blue would look so good on you. All you need is to wash your hair and then you can try on some of the dresses offered to the guests when they come, just for today. I will have to make your hair and then get you ready for dinner. The king and Pr-, um, Fang will be there and also Iggy and the queen. Don't worry they are all very nice. You will have a great time."

She was about to continue but I just stared at her in shock, so she just closed her mouth. Man, this girl could talk. She smiled, a little embarrassed, and looked down at her hand.

"Well, looks like there is a lot on the agenda. Where do we start?" I asked.

Nudge quickly ran into the room and I followed, not knowing what was to come as Nudge dragged me into the bathroom.

Let me tell you, when we entered the bathroom, I was greeted by the scent of roses as I saw a large bath tub in the middle of the room filled with water. I watched as Nudge poured something into the tub and the water became foamy. I looked at her questioningly, but she just smiled at me.

"Okay, so I'm going to go and wait outside while you get into the tub. As soon as you are in and have finished cleaning up, call me so I can help wash your hair. Now, before you interrupt, yes it is necessary for me to come in." with that she walked out.

I quickly removed my tunic and trousers, as I realised that I was still wearing the ones Fang had given me, seeing as I hadn't had time to change into my old ones ever since. Dismissing the thought, I placed both garments on the hook that hung on the back of the door and slowly walked towards the tub.

As I stepped in, the warm water felt good against my skin and I sat down and relaxed. After a few minutes, I started to remove and dirt from my skin. I felt very dirty as I realised I had not properly cleaned myself in a very long time.

When I was done cleaning, I removed the plug from the waterhole at the bottom of the tub, and watched as all the water drained from it. As it all disappeared, I turned on the the tap and a sudden burst of cold water hit my skin.

Shivering, I looked around in search of hot water, only to realise that there was a tub of steaming hot water right next to bath. I quickly picked it up off the floor, added half the tub to the cold water in the bath. As soon as I was done, I got back into the water and added some of what Nudge had added before in order to make the water foamy.

"I'm done Nudge, you can come in now." I shouted. She walked in and smiled.

"I see you have already changed the water. Oh well, guess you won't need the towel yet." She placed the towel on a small towel stand and turned back to me.

"Okay, so we need to get your hair washed, your face washed properly and and also find you a dress." I nodded and she immediately attacked my hair. At first she just massaged my head, but then I felt her put something cold and wet into my hair. I moved my head back and looked at her questioningly.

"It's a liquid ointment used to clean hair." she explained. I just nodded as if I understood and looked down again.

After Nudge was done rubbing ointment and massaging my hair, she finally rinsed it out, after what seemed like an hour and smiled down at me in victory. I just shrugged and she rolled her eyes. I had never taken care of myself so well before.

I had never known there was an ointment that was specifically made to cleanse and soften hair. I had never know of bathing in a tub with foam and soapy water. All I used to do was shower in the rain. Luckily it rained a lot around the Forte, at least once a week, so I never had to wait too long. Though some days did get a bit unbearable.

I was brought back to reality by Nudge rubbing something cold and wet onto my face. My first instinct was to grab and twist her hand, but I decided better. I opened my eyes and glared at her, only to receive a satisfied look in return.

She was getting used to the constant glaring, but not enough. She still seemed to cringe slightly every time I glared at her, so it wasn't completely useless. After a while she decided that she had rubbed my face enough and told me to wash it with water.

I obeyed, not wanting to hear another one of her scolding rants. I don't know why I even put up with them, seeing as I was entitled to tell her to be quiet. But for some reason, I couldn't. She was my first friend that I had had for longer than an hour, and I didn't want to upset her.

As I finished washing my face, Nudge walked out of the bathroom and returned with a towel the same colour as my bed spread. She placed on the side of the sink, which was situated on the left wall of the bathroom along with a small cupboard to the side and an average sized mirror above it. The whole bathroom had a lavender and white colour scheme, just like my room.

"Okay, now I'm going to go outside and wait for you. I want you to dry and wrap yourself with this towel and come outside so we can chose your dress. I decided to bring the dresses I thought looked good or you would like into your room on a rack for you to choose from. So come quickly." she explained.

I nodded and she walked out of the bathroom, closing the door with a click behind her. As soon as she left I got out of the tub and walked over to the towel. A sudden gust of cold wind hit my body and I quickly wrapped the towel around me securely. As I looked in the mirror, my eyes widened, I had never looked this clean in so long. I felt refreshed and ready for anything.

The last time I remember being even close to this clean, was when I had been called in to visit the emperor. I smiled as I remembered my mother washing me and telling me how to be proper. A small tear escaped the side of my eye and I quickly wiped it away. I would not ruin this happy moment with those memories. Reassuring myself, I smiled into the mirror one last time before walking out to Nudge.

As I walked into the room, I was amazed by the sight before me. There, in the centre of the room, was a large rack, filled with more dresses than I had seen in my entire life. Some were silk, while others were cotton or linen gowns.

There were fur coats and shoes and sandals. On my dresser, Nudge has set up an assortment of different bottles, full of god knows what. There were beautiful hairbrushes, combs and other little hair accessories. I turned to Nudge and gaped.

"All the stuff on the dresser in now yours. You will get more to chose from later. Also, the dresses that you like out of these you can keep, the others I will return to the main guests closet down the hall. Now, I know that you may not be into dresses all that much, so, I brought out some tunics and boots for outings and training. And, my favourite, I brought you some jewellery that the queen had set aside for you. Off coarse you will be choosing your own tomorrow, but the queen has given these to you as a gift." She pointed at a small stand on the dresser, full of necklaces bracelets and earrings of all kinds.

I just stood there agape, not know what to say or do. All I was doing was nodding my head slightly as Nudge explained.

After what seemed like hours of staring at the things before me, Nudge pulled me towards the rack of dresses. I watched in amazement as she pulled out one after the other, asking me for my opinion. I would nod my head if it was nice and she would place it into a separate pile.

When she was done, she moved the rack of dresses I hadn't liked to the side of the room. Then she took out another rack from the my closet as I looked inside. I stood in amazement once again as I realised that the closet itself was almost as big as my room.

There were racks for shoes and clothes and a large wall-sized mirror on the back wall, which was pretty big. I slowly shut my mouth as I realised I had been gaping yet again, for what seemed like the tenth time today. I turned back around towards Nudge, who had neatly arranged the dresses I had chosen on a rack and now stood looking at me expectantly.

For a minute I just looked back at her before moving towards the rack. This was going to be hard, seeing I had never worn a dress before and I had no clue what was consider reasonable for dinner. I think Nudge realised my state of confusion and started taking some really fancy dresses off the rack and took them into the closet, hanging them.

When she returned, I was looking at the rack, as a particular dress caught my sight. It seemed really simple, but looked beautiful from where I stood.

"Ah, I see. I had a feeling that you would chose that. So I bought it out. It's one of the simplest ones in the central wardrobe. But I must agree, it is beautiful." She moved forward and took the dress off the rack and held it out to me.

It was a simple lavender coloured satin with a large dark scarlet coloured ribbon a few inches above the waist and thick straps. I smiled as Nudge held in front of my face.

"Go into you closet and try it on, and tell me if you need any help, call me in." She pushed me into the closet and shut the door behind me with a huge smile on her face.

It took me a while getting into the dress, because after numerous attempts at tightening the stings at the back of the dress myself, I gave up and called Nudge, who gladly obliged and told me not to look in the mirror, covering my eyes as she took me back into the room.

As I got back, I realised that all the mirrors had been covered by material, so I couldn't see. I looked at Nudge questioningly, but like before she just shrugged and giggled. I just sighed as she told me to sit down on a chair in front of the dresser as she started to fix my hair.

First she combed it, the brushed it and started doing something to it, which I could not see, as she had covered the mirror. I sighed in defeat and just let her do whatever she was doing. I would let her experiment for first few days, as it would be the first few times I would be in the company of the king and queen. After that, I was definitely not wearing any of this. I would do what I wanted, and it definitely did not include wearing any sort of dress.

Nudge started rubbing some sort of cold ointment onto my face. I looked at her and all she did was place five jars in front of me.

"Pick a scent. Tomorrow you can create your own." I just nodded and pointed at an orange coloured jar.

Nudge smiled and poured some liquid onto her hands form the jar and rubbed it on both of my arms. As nice smell entered my nose and I smiled. After she was done doing whatever she was doing to me, she looked at me one more time and beamed. It was like light was radiating out of her. I just smiled and she removed the cloth from over the dressers mirror.

I looked in and gasped. There in the mirror was a girl with silky dirty blonde and large chocolate brown eyes. I blinked a few times and so did the girl in the mirror. It took me a second to realise that I was staring at myself.

A short gasp escaped me as I took in what was before me. I was wearing a lavender satin dress, that hugged the top of my body and loosened as it got lower. Some of my hair had been taken and pinned to one side, while the rest of my blonde curls flowed past my shoulders and stopped just above my waist.

I had never had my hair out fully. It had always been in some sort of pony-tale. As I took in my figure, I smiled at Nudge and mouthed thanks. She just beamed and pulled me up, and took me to a rack full of shoes and handed me a pair of lavender sandals with small sparkles.

"You need to wear these. They look so good with your dress!" she squealed. I just smiled and nodded. I seemed to be doing a lot of that in the past few hours.

"Oh my god! You need to go now, or you will be late to dinner. Go now!" Nudge shouted worried.

"Oh, you don't know the way to the dining hall yet do you?" I just shook my head and she grabbed my hand, pulling me out of the room. She ran ahead, while I struggled to walk properly behind her in a dress.

She lead me down a flight of stairs and seemed to turn so many corners that I lost track, before we reached two large golden doors. She suddenly came to halt, making me slam right into her. We both cried in pain but quickly recovered, rubbing our heads.

"Okay, so you need to push those doors open, and just walk in and sit down at the chair that the butler guides you to. Make sure to acknowledge the king and queen before you sit. Ah, your hair is slightly out of place, give me a second." she reached up and fixed something in my hair and smiled.

"Okay, now go!" she urged me towards the doors. I took a deep breath and pushed open the doors. As I walked in, four heads turned towards me, excluding the one I presumed to be the butler. I only recognised two.

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**ok, firstly, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  
i love you guys. every single one of you. 79 REVIEWS! that is sooooooooo awsome. i love you guys. and 21 of which were from Chapter 11.**

**AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! i love you people! all you reviews made my week. i love you!**

**also, onto other news. as you may have noticed, i have introduced one of the other characters into the story. drumroll: Nudge. tell me what you thought.**

**also, this is a MUCH longer update than usual. so yay!**

**now, to thank ALL of my lovely reviewer:**

**- Sarah - thnaks, i hope this wasn't too late for an update.**

**- JezabelStrike - oh, thank you very very very much. i appreciate that heaps. im glad you like it. i hope this chapter was up to standard. **

**- Gummy Bear - ok, thank you soooo much. i really really appreciate that you like my writing. also, im sorry this wasn't in the town. i hope the fortress makes up for it. also, this is longer that the usual so i hope u like it. lots of love from me.**

**- bookworm842 - You make me smile. thanks.**

**- gsfhgw - your welcome. i spaced it more this time. i hope its good.**

**- STALLION OF THE CIMARRON - thanks. i love your username, cuz i LOVE horses.**

**- HeAt-StRoKe - you reviewed twice. thanks for both ;)**

**- FangsGirl823 - yeah, ive been waiting for this day all my life. :D. and do not worry, no matter how busy i get, i will always update this as much as possible. even f it is shorter than normal. i promise you that. cross my heart. lots of love from me.**

**- FangLover - thanks thanks thanks thanks. hahaha. i really appreciate the review. will hopefully continue this to the best of my ability.**

**- wings - thanks. well you see, its not really an option that max is considering. it hasn't occurred to her yet...**

**- mysterious person - thanks heaps. i will :D.**

**- twinkychick-244 - ok, so is this spacing good? tell me..**

**- AishaY - well aisha, i like to thank every single one of my reviewers at the end of each chappie. but thanx, i appreciate you liking the story. **

**- xDDxX - ok, thanks heaps. im glad that you like it and started reading it. i hope this update wasn't too late. **

**- conti siegel- thanks man..**

**- MelRose520 - thanks heaps for the birthday wish and for liking my story. i appreciate it. :D**

**- desiree31 - thanks heaps. i hope u liked the chapter above!**

**- lifedeathpeace - ok zarwa, quit spamming me. i know its you by the way you write. XD. FAILED ATTEMPT. hahaha. i'll talk later. cya at school. love you.**

**ok, so those are my lovely reviewers. i love you this much (spreads arms out wide).**

**anyway, ****on the same note, we have only 21 reviews until 100! major milestone!  
**

******also, i hope all of you like the chapter above, plzzzzz let me know what you think. it was my first chapter with another major character.**

******also, i will be having a few surprises later on. so stay tuned.**

******another thing. DRUM ROLL. there will me the vert STARTING, meaning small traces of fax VERY soon.**

**ok, so thats all.**

**I LOVE YOU ALL!**

**Beeni.**

******P.S. sorry for any errors. if you want, i will edit later and do a re-post..**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi guys!**

**100 REVIEWS. I LOVE YOU PEOPLE. (more on this at the bottom)**

**i know that this one day late, but my holidays started and i couldn't find time to upload this earlier.**

**yesterday was the first day of my HOLIDAYS.**

**YAYYYYY!**

**anyway, on with the story... **

* * *

As I walked in I saw Fang look up from where he was standing by a man who looked seemingly familiar. I just couldn't place him. On the other side of Fang was the Queen, who smiled as she saw me enter.

Next to her was a tall boy, who looked about my age. He had pale blonde hair and had on a white tunic and brown leather trousers. He just stood there and grinned my way, looking slightly amused.

Confused, I looked to my side, to see a man standing there with his arm outstretched, as if waiting for me to take it. I looked around, not knowing what to do, as I spotted Fang slightly nodding his head in the man's direction.

Slowly I realised he was motioning for me to take the man's arm. Doing as requested, I placed my hand on the man's arm, as I realised this must be the butler Nudge had told would guide me into the room.

Slightly embarrassed by my lack of concentration, I looked down as the butler lead me towards the dining table.

The dining room was very large, with the entrance located at one end and the dining area on the other end. In the middle there was a very large and comfortable looking sofa, which circled a round table.

As I observed the room, I saw it had a different setting to the others I had seen. It looked more lived-in and had an almost homey touch. Even though I would never know what a real home was like. I guess this seemed like the closest I would get to one.

As I finished having my mental rant, I realised that the butler had stopped and I was now standing right in front of the man standing by Fang. I soon realised who he was and curtsied.

"Your Majesty" I tried to say as politely as possible. The king just nodded his head and smiled.

"There is no need for such formalities. My name is Harry. But call me whatever suites you. My sons usually calls me Pa, but I guess that is up to you."

I smiled at the kings offer and watched as the boy standing next to the queen moved forward, outstretching his hand.

At first I didn't respond, but after receiving a look from Fang, I shook the boys hand.

"Don't hesitate. My name is Iggy. I'm blind." I smiled at the his bluntness and shook his hand harder, in order to show him I wasn't hesitating.

"Well Iggy, I'm Max." I told him. "But I guess you already know that." I smiled.

Iggy looked at me with unrealistic precision and gave me a goofy grin. The queen didn't seem to notice mine and Iggy's exchange and looked at me apologetically.

"I am so sorry for my sons bluntness. He seems to find his disability no big deal, as he publicises it even when it is unneeded." I smiled up at Iggy and he winked at me, which was honestly creepy.

Seeing as he couldn't see me smile. I think I could become friends with this guy.

"On a lighter note, you look absolutely beautiful Max." the queen smiled.

I felt my cheeks heat, as I realised that everyone in the room was looking at me. I looked down, letting my hair curtain my face from the watchful eyes within the room.

Fang seemed to be looking at me with an intensity that was hard to match, making me blush even harder. As if realising the effect he had on me, he smirked and looked away from me.

Sensing the awkwardness within the room, the queen quickly clapped her hand and several men walked into the room, each one standing behind a chair at the table. Two of the butlers pulled out the chairs for the king and queen on either sides of the table.

As soon as they were seated, one of the butlers directed me to a chair right next to Fang at the table, pulling it out for me, gesturing for me to be seated.

As I sat down, a line of men walked out from behind two swinging doors, bringing with them plates of food, placing one in front of each person. One of the men placed a plate in front of me, a heavenly smell entered my nose, making me scrunch my nose in delight.

Judging by the look Fang gave, I realised that he had probably seen my reaction to the food. What, I had never had a proper piece of meat.

As I was about to dig in, Fang placed a hand on my arm, as if gesturing for me to wait. I gave him a confused look. Only realising a minute later what he was trying to say. The king had started saying some sort of prayer in the elder tongue.

"_μπορεί αυτό να μας καλό" _ he said before starting his food.

I sat there, trying my best to try and figure out what he had said, but only confusing myself more than before. I did not realise that everyone had started to eat until Fang lightly tapped my arm.

Suddenly being pulled out of my daze. Looking up, I realise that everyone was watching me, waiting for me to start. Embarrassed, I smiled, and picked up one of the spoons from the long line that was in front of. Fang jabbed me in the ribs under the table.

"Not that one." he whispered.

Slightly embarrassed yet again, I touched the one next to it, only to be jabbed under the table once again. Not picking it up I did the same to the next one, and received a slight nod from Fang, indicating I had finally picked up the right spoon.

Smiling triumphantly, I looked up to see an amused look on the faces of all the others in the room, including the butlers. I guess they had noticed my act of confusion.

Feeling embarrassed for what seemed like the tenth time today, I stated to eat some of the mashed potato at the side of my plate. As if taking my gesture to finally stop staring and start, everyone else started to eat, easing the tension in the room ever so slightly. The key word being _slightly. _

We ate the rest of our meals in silence, with only the low sound of spoons and forks brushing against plates. After the little incident earlier, I had not looked up, worried that I would see someone looking at me and I would make yet another mistake.

I seemed to finish my food before everyone else. As I looked up, I realised that everyone else was taking their time, having only eaten half their food so far.

I caught Iggy's eye and he smirked at me and then gestured to my plate. I gave him a goofy grin and he seemed to try and he to hold back laughter and shook his head from side to side, so slightly that only I noticed.

It seemed creepy he could do all that and, I dunno, see my plate was empty with him being blind and all. I would have to ask him about that later.

Smiling even wider, I felt as if someone was watching me. As I turned and looked around, I realised that one of the butlers was looking at me, and seemed to be arguing with himself about something.

As soon as he realised I was watching, he stood up straight again and put on a straight face. Giving him a friendly smile I turned back around towards Iggy, who was now also. He seemed to have eaten fast.

I realised about five minutes later, what he had done. I smiled at him thankfully, he had finished food quickly so that I wouldn't be the only one. I knew that he knew I was smiling, for some strange reason.

For the next five minutes we just sat across from one another and made weird faces, until everyone else was done. He seemed to have reduced the level of awkwardness I had felt from being in the room. The king let out a loud sigh and smiled.

"That was great, though I think I will skip dessert and head off to my study. Will you be joining me Val?" he asked the queen. She just nodded and smiled.

"It was great having you here for dinner Max. I'm sorry we weren't much fun, it's just that we're all very tired from this evenings events. Hopefully we will talk again properly tomorrow morning." with that she got up and followed the king out of the room, through a small door to the left of the room.

As soon as they were gone, Fang let out a sigh of relief and moved back in his chair, as if he was suddenly at peace again.

"That was so awkward. I think father is taking too much stress on such a small matter. I mean, we'll get to the bottom of this. Especially now that your here and you can take charge of the royal guard again. I think they thought that they could take it easy as soon as they saw that the prince had gone away. Not that Gazzy didn't do a good job after you. He was great, but they just didn't take him as seriously." Iggy said to Fang. "I..."

I didn't listen to the rest as I tried to put two and two together from what Iggy had said. What was the crisis? I would have to ask someone later. Why had he said 'the prince'. And the royal guard. What did Fang have to do with this?

As realisation struck, I dropped the fork I had been holding and just stared at Fang open mouthed. He, was the prince. He was the captain of the royal guard. He had a quest. It all made perfect sense now.

As I had a mental rant, Fang and Iggy both looked at me with weird looks. Iggy looked scared while Fang, had a hopeful look on his face. Even further confused by their looks, I sighed and then took a huge breath in before, just staring at Fang it utter shock again.

"You'll catch flies." Fang stated simply.

I shook my head and closed my mouth, but kept staring at him. This seemed to continue for what seemed like an hour and Iggy shifted uncomfortably in his chair, as Fang looked at me with equal intensity.

"Okay! Cut it out, both of you." Iggy said, before waving his hand in front of my face.

"Earth to Max." I shook my head and glared at both of them.

"Okay, what did I do?" Iggy asked worriedly.

They both still hadn't realised I had made the connection. So I decided to play with their minds.

"Sorry I just remembered something." I said simply. Iggy gave me a questioning look and sighed.

"Thank god." He said relieved. I just smirked.

"Why are you so relieved? You don't even know what I just remembered." I stated. At that he got a really worried look on his face.

"I just remembered.." I paused, trying to build up suspense.

"That..." I paused again, this time Iggy gave me an annoyed look and seemed like he was going to pee himself at the outcome of my sentence.

"I liked the food." I said, trying to contain my smirk at the look of relief Iggy got on his face as I said that.

"Okay, so what was with the constant staring at Fang?" he asked me, as if challenging me.

"He jabbed me under the table before we started to eat. I was angry." He seemed to buy my excuse and sighed in relief getting up from his chair.

"Well, now that you've had your little memory session, lets play a game." Iggy said, trying to take make the mood a little less intense.

I just nodded while looking at Fang, challenging him to look up at me. But he seemed to ignore me and just nodded at Iggy.

Taking in his mood, I smirked. I knew that he knew that I knew. Okay, that didn't even make sense to me in my head. But oh well.

I just smiled at Iggy, indicating that I was in. He nodded happily and went over to a large set of drawers at the side of the room and took out a big brown box. I looked at him questioningly, but he just smiled.

He took the box to the round table at the other end of the room and gestured for me and Fang to follow. Obliging I followed suite and sat down on the sofa beside him. Fang joined us and sat across from me.

"Okay, so in this game, I will spin a pointer and it will stop on one of us. The person it lands on has to pick up a card and do what it says. Capiche?" he said pointing at a deck of cards on the table.

I nodded and Fang started to protest, but Iggy just held his hand up as if indicating the decision was final.

"Iggy.." Fang started.

"Just this once Fang okay. Listen to me just this once." Iggy said in a monotone which was totally out of character for him. Sighing, Fang just nodded his head, making Iggy smile like an idiot.

I guess I liked Iggy, he was the kind of guy I would get on with quite well, with him always getting his way and all. We could be great friends.

I smiled to myself and looked up only to be met by a confused look on Iggy's face. I just grinned wider and he shook his head.

"Okay, so I have set up the cards. I'll go first, and then you Fang and then Max. Lets just ditch the pointer." I just nodded and watched as he lifted a card and smiled at it.

"Attempt to stand on your head. Well this is easy." he read with a smile.

He quickly got up and started to bend forward in the middle of the room. He seemed to have trouble putting all his weight on his hands. I smiled and laughed at his failed attempt at the hand-stand.

As he got up, he gave me a glare and turned to Fang. "Change of plan Fang, Max goes next." He said with a devilish tone, which, quite frankly, scared me more than he was scaring me already. The whole personality disorder thing and all.

I heard Fang snicker and I looked at him with a weird look on my face. Which, for some reason, amused him more and he let out a small chuckle.

"Inside Joke." He said in response.

Choosing to ignore his _off_ behaviour, I turned to Iggy and he held out a card for me to read. It couldn't be that bad.

"What's the worst thing you've done today." I read out.

Okay, so confession aye? Well truthfully I really couldn't think of anything I could have done even remotely bad enough in the space of the day.

"Wait, so what if I modify this a little? Seeing as I really can not think a single wrong thing I might have done within last twenty-four hours" I suggested.

Iggy seemed to think for a moment and Fang got a scared look on his face as he looked at me.

"Okay, just this once. Seeing as it is your first time playing. But never again, and my mark my words Max. Mark my words." she said in a creepy tone.

I just gave Iggy a weird look, only receiving a casual shrug and a slap on the back from him and a shrug. I swear sometimes that kid annoyed me a lot. And I hadn't even known him for more than two hours.

As I looked up from yet another one of my internal rants, I saw Fang and Iggy staring at me expectantly. I looked back at them confused as hell as to why they were staring at me.

Iggy gave me an expectant look and I finally realised that they were waiting for me to say my alternate version of the confession.

Smirking at them, I looked at them both, dragging on the moment as much as possible. I sighed as I remembered the wonderful discovery I had made just an hour ago.

I don't know if I was angry or hurt as to why he didn't trust me enough to reveal his identity to me without me having to guess. I mean, it was inevitable, I would have found out sooner or later.

I was happy for both their sakes that it was sooner than later, seeing as who knows what I would have done if I had found at some sort of royal ceremony, that Fang whatever his last name was, was a prince.

Not giving anything away, I looked over at both the boys. Fang had an impassive look on his face, like every other time. Except this time he had a look of panic in his eyes.

For some reason his eyes always give him away when he hasn't got his guard up completely. All of a sudden, as if he knew what I was thinking, his eyes became the stone hard orbs they always were. Dismissing the thought I turned to Iggy.

"Okay, so I was thinking that instead of saying what the worst thing I have done today, I will say the worst thing someone has done to me today." Not thinking, he nodded to my proposal. Little did he know what I was going to do.

"Now lets see. The worst thing that someone has done to me today." I dragged the moment, and achieved my ulterior motive as Iggy gave me a glare.

"That would have to be the fact that..." I stopped and watched as I received yet another glare from Iggy. Frankly, I don't why he tried to glare at me, it had no effect. Smiling to myself, I watched as Fang held his head in his hands, frustrated.

Well, he should be. I mean, keeping something so big from me. And then there was the fact that I had just noticed. As I thought back, it was obvious just by the way people treated him. But I guess it had just never occurred.

Now, I know I may be over-exaggerating this, but for some reason it really matter that he of all people did not trust me with such public information. I mean, if he had told me, I still wouldn't have worshipped his feet. I would probably have treated him the same way.

There was nothing stopping me there.

Sighing, I decided I wouldn't keep them waiting any longer.

"Well, lets just say, I can't exactly trust some people any more. I mean hiding your identity from me. Where was that getting you. Really Fang. And here I was thinking I could trust you. But I guess I'm not the only one having trust issues. Trust me, this did not add your image in my mind. It only tell me how much not to trust you. I mean who knows what other big bad secret your hidden in the closet." My voice became higher at the end, as I finned the sentence almost shouting.

"Okay, you know what, I'll leave both of you to it." Iggy said, as he slowly but swiftly ran out of the room. Closing the door behind him a small thud.

I looked at Fang and watched as he just looked at me.

"So you have nothing to say for yourself?" I questioned. He just sighed and held his head in his hands.

"You think I wanted to hide this kind of thing from you? Well, I'll have you know that I didn't plan on this happening. I was going to tell you before we left the forest and came to the island mountain. But, I couldn't. I was scared ok?" I looked at him with an angry but confused look on my face.

Why was _he_ of all people scared?

"Because I had just made up with you and you seemed to be trusting me more and more. I didn't want to spoil that again." he said, emphasising on _again._

"So you thought that if I trusted you, letting this hat out of the bag _later_ would improve that. That I would just take it and move on. Well I'm sorry, but finding out that the one person that you might just trust more than anyone else is a crown prince, doesn't really come to everyone like breathing." I looked down and fought back the tears as I realised the full extent of the situation.

I had never trusted anyone before, and here I was giving it a chance, only to be blown off once again. I guess trust just wasn't meant for me.

"And you know what the worst part is. The worst part was that you weren't even the one to tell me. I had to figure it out by myself because Iggy accidentally let it slip in conversation." I paused.

"And as much as I tried to ignore and make it something to laugh about, it made it worse." I stopped and looked at him, as he just looked around the room.

"Well, if there _is_ anything else about you that I should know, please do tell me, because I don't think you could make me feel worse." I watched as he looked up and into my eyes for the first time tonight and gave me a look that I had seen once.

It was the look that my mother gave me when she looked at me and smiled. When she told me it would be okay. When she told she loved me.

Confused, I turned away and looked towards the exit to the dining room.

"Max, I really didn't mean for you to find out like this. Please listen to me. Hear me out before you make a decision of any sort." he pleaded.

And trust me, even in this state I knew it was rare for him to plead. For a moment I considered his offer, but then I shook my head.

"There is..." I cut him off.

"No Fang, I don't want to hear or see any explanation. Just leave me alone and let me go. You've said all I needed to hear before. Nothing. That's what you said. So how about you just do just that again and wait for me to figure out how _sorry_ you are."

With that I stormed off towards the two large doors I had entered from.

"Max, wait!" he called after me.

I ran out of the room in no particular direction as I reached two large doors. Pushing them open, I ran out into the cold night air, rubbing my shoulders from the sudden gust of cold wind.

Not paying attention as to where I was going, I ran ahead. Soon I reached a small clearing before the forest at the back of the fortress. Slowing down I ran ran ahead, not caring what was in the forest at this time of night.

As I reached the edge of the clearing I ran forward and ground disappeared from beneath me. Making me falling in a cold and dark hole. The last thing I remembered was hitting my head onto some sort of rock as I fell and then darkness consumed me.

* * *

**okay, so before any of you get mad,**

**yes i know that i said there would be slight FAX, but im sorry, i couldn't fit it into this chapter as much as i wanted. **

**but, i am definite that it WILL be there in the next chapter. but, like i said, it will only be slight and small. nothing too big.**

**also, ...**

**we reached 100 REVIEWS. (110 actually :D) which i must say i must thank EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU for.**

**so THANK YOU!  
**

**also, i would like to say thanks to one person in particular for reviewing the last chapter and ALL of my other chapters with birthday wishes. here she is:**

**- oOo KitKat oOo - thank you sooooooooooooooooooooo... much. I LOVE YOU. and no i was not annoyed by your constant reviews. that was a great birthday present. thank you. i hope you like this chapter. i'm glad that you like this story. thanks for saying what you did. **

**now, to thank all the other wonderful people that reviewed:**

**- Flitting Wishes - thanks. and i hope that this chapter was good. seeing as max did find out... thanks for reviewing. :D**

**- JezabelStrike - thanks for the review. it really helped. i'm gald that the last one was to standard. i hope this is good too. :)))**

**- HeAt-StRoKe- thanks, i really really really appreciate this. you have reviewed every chapter from the start. :)))))))))) you do not know how much that means to me.**

**- desiree31 - thanks sooooo much. i appreciated. i hope you like the update.**

**- Froyogirl27 - thanks, i appreciate the review. it really means a lot when people like my writing.**

**- STALLION OF THE CIMARRON - i'm glad you like it. i hope you like this too. i really appreciate the review. thanks :)))))**

**- SmileyReillyD  - thank you sooo much. i appreciate the support. and don't worry about the haters, its just one of my friends trying to make me mad. :))))**

**- MelRose520 - thanks soo much. i hope you liked this. i appreciate the review. **

**- Gummy Bear - i'm glad that you like the introduction of nudge into the story. i think it was about time that i did introduce her. thanks for the AMAZING review. i really really appreciate it. i'm also sorry that ther was no town in this one too. i think that might take a few chapters. but i will get there VERY soon. yes there will be a chapter of max exploring it, and very soon too. also, i no you were looking forward to the FAX, but i'm really sorry there wasn't any this chapter. there will be though, in the next one. so do not worry. another thing, i'm glad you liked the spacing. also, thanks for your concern on my health. i am better now. and i was better then too. but thanks anyway. all it took was cup of coffee and some medicine. :))) lots of love from me. **

**- twinkychick-244 -**** thnaks for the advise parwa. i hope this was better.**

**- AishaY- thanks for the review, and all the ones after that.**

**- usuck , imabunny - i'm sorry that i am disappointing you. maybe you could tell me whats wrong, so i can fix it _aisha and zarwa._**

**_- _gsfhgw _- _thanks, the review was really really appreciated. **

**- MsFreeYourSoul - okay, well ther you go. i hope you like the update. tell me what you think. i'm glad you like my writing. i'm also glad you like my story. thanks again :))))**

**- .attack - thanks sooooooooo much. i really appreciate your love fro this story. i hope i don't disappoint you in any way. thanks again i appreciate the review. :D**

**- Fangsgirl823 - its ok that you reviewed late. i'm glad that you like nudge and the story line. i'm glad you like it. anyway, if you want to talk to me about anything, how about you leave me your email or something on a personal message on my profile, and i will send you a message. i think it might be easier to communicate that way. but if you have an account in fanfiction, then log on and message me and we can talk from there. whatever works for you. let me know and i will be more than happy to discuss this with you. okay. until then, take care, and lots of love from me. :))))))**

**- mysterious person - thank you sooooo much. i really appreciate the for the comments, i really appreciate it. i hope i can make the standard that you are expecting of this story. and i also hope that it will be successful. i really appreciate it. thanks for the review. :D**

**- XxDDxX - thanks so much for the review. i'm glad you like nudge. there will be more of her in the next chapter. thanks again. :))))))))))))**

**okay, so those are the amazing people that helped me achieve 100. thank you!  
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**new milestone: 150**

**anyway, moving on from reviews. because i have holidays, i will try to update more an more frequently. :))  
**

**so thats it.**

**i hope u like it so far.**

**R&R...?**

**Beeni**

**P.S. i am very sorry for any typos or errors. **


	14. Chapter 14

**well hello everyone. i feel great today!**

**its the holidays and i am actually getting some work done. so yay!**

**usually i procrastinate all day and then reality dawns on me later...**

**anyway, on with the story...**

* * *

I opened my eyes to see only more darkness. Where was I? I looked around as I remembered what had happened. All I could see was darkness. I tried to lift my arm to feel for my surroundings, but failed as it was stuck somewhere.

A sharp pain made its way up my arm, leaving me paralysed in one position. I tried moving my legs, but found that one of my legs was stuck between something, making it erupted with pain, just like my arm had.

As I tried to move my other arm from beneath me, I felt soft dirt rub against my skin. Looking down I screamed, as my neck ached with the same feeling of pain as the rest of my body.

I tried to wriggle my way to a better position, but I was in such a confined space that there was no room for me to stretch my leg forward.

Groaning in pain, I blinked as dirt fell onto my face, causing my eyes to water. Something seemed to be moving above me. Slowly, I lifted my back a little off the ground, ignoring the pain that penetrated itself into every part of me.

Screeching, I moved my arm from beneath me and sighed in relief, as I realised that it had not been hurt as bad as all of the rest of me. I slowly felt around in my surroundings trying to get a hold of anything that could even slightly support my weight.

As I felt around, my hand touched something rough and hard in the wall. Slowly I moved my arm into a comfortable position and pulled onto it. I didn't seem to budge. I tried again and after several attempts, I was quite satisfied that it could support my weight.

I pulled as hard as I could on the object. A massive amount of pain shot through my whole body as I tried to lift myself into a seating position. Ignoring the pain yet again, I lifted myself again, pulling myself up as hard as I could. Finally, I pulled myself up enough to reach forward properly.

Slowly I leaned forward and tugged on my leg, trying my very hardest to get it out. I pushed up against something and pulled on my leg as much as I could.

A sudden jab of pain made its way into my foot as I roughly pulled it out of wherever it had been stuck. I sighed in relief as I rested my leg straight in front on me. And to think that I had gotten myself into such a mess because of a stupid fight with that boy.

Slowly I moved forward again, trying to ignore the feeling of each one of my muscles aching within me. Moving my hand up again, I held onto the object I had held before and pulled myself up.

As I tried to stand up on one leg, my head hit what seemed like the roof of the trench I was in. My head ached even more than it had been already, making me loose my footing and fall forward onto a hard rock surface.

Happy that I was still standing, I ignored the feeling of something wet running down my face as I regained my balance and held back onto something on the wall of the trench.

Smiling at my small victory, I leaned against the wall and used my hand to push on the roof as hard as I could with with one arm. But it only slightly moved. Not enough to for me to move above it and get out.

As I pushed up against it again, I realised that it was in fact a wooden trap door. I pushed harder and heard something jingle above. It was locked.

Not giving up, I pushed hard against the wood again, but it didn't budge again. Angry at the lack of progress I was making, I hit the wood one last time as hard as I could, but it still didn't budge.

Sighing I leaned against the wall, trying to calm my heavy and ragged breathing. This was definitely not part of what I had imagined my stay at the fortress would be like.

I grunted in pain as I felt something wet crept down my face again. I think it was blood as it crept down from a place on my head making it ache even more.

Slowly I reached up and touched my forehead, feeling my fingers become wet with blood. My eyes slowly closes as I heard something above me. I listened carefully, slowly realising that it was the sound of footsteps against the ground above me.

In one final attempt to free myself, I hit my arm against the wood as hard as I could, making it erupt in pain. Wincing slightly I moved back, waiting for a response, but nothing came.

Sighing in defeat, I let out a scream and leaned against the wall as I heard something rattle above me.

I looked up as dirt made its way through some cracks in the wood and onto my face once again. Squinting my eyes closed I sighed, not wanting to have a repeat of my eyes watering.

Suddenly I felt an arm on my should and then a shout of fear. Slowly I opened my eyes to see someone lifting the trap door to the trench. My eyes hurt and watered as sudden light entered the confined space, making it too bright too quickly.

I closed my eyes as I heard muffled voices and a hand grabbed my arms, making me wince. The person seemed to sense this and lifted their hand out of the trench. Before I knew what was going I felt someone squeeze into the trench beside me. Opening my eyes, I let out a cry of pain as I had the same problem adjusting to the light, making me close them again.

Two hands held onto either sides of my waist as I felt pain run through me again. This time I tried to hide it as much as possible as someone lifted me off the ground and into someone else's strong arms.

Happy that I was out, but terrified as to who had taken me out, I wriggled in my captors arms, trying to escape their firm grip.

"Oh for once Max, don't be so stubborn and let someone help you." I heard a familiar voice say to me.

I felt a warm breath on on my face and opened my eyes squinting again, fighting against the urge to close them. Slowly, after a large amount of pain and many loud cries, my eyes adjusted to the light and I looked at my captors face.

I gasped as I found that none other than the person that had caused all of this was staring right back at me. Fang.

I felt hundreds of emotions pass through me at that one moment. Joy, pain, anger, hatred, regret? Heartache? I looked up into his worried dark eyes and saw so much, that it frightened me. I had never seen Fang show so much as a smile unless it was really required.

Deciding to act on the first few emotions that I had felt, I looked away from him and again tried to stand up on my own. He was holding me bridal style, as if it was totally normal.

Struggling for him to loosen his grip, I whacked him on his arm as hard as I could. But the only problem was that, it was more like a small pat on the arm, seeing as I was totally drained of any energy that I had within my body. She chuckled and tighten his grip, making me wince inwardly.

And as if my body decided then to respond to my thoughts, I felt my eyelids become heavier, slowly closing over my eyes.

* * *

I'm not sure how long I was out, but when I woke up, I was in a comfortable bed, surrounded by white.

Was this heaven? I smiled at the thought of finally becoming free of the ratcheted world. But this was my life we were talking about. And in my life, nothing ever happened the way I wanted it to.

Fang walked into the room, smiling as he saw me. "I'm so glad that you're finally awake. You heal pretty fast." he stated.

I tried to move my arm from its position beside in order to turn onto my side, but as soon as I shifted my weight an ounce onto one side, pain shot through me, making me lay back straight on my back.

Wincing as I felt every muscle in my body ache, I tried to turn my head away from Fang. But like before, my life was never easy. A new pain shot through me, making me move my neck to its original position. Grunting in pain and annoyance, I glared at Fang.

I did not want to look at him right now. A small hit on the head would not make me forget what he had done.

I closed my eyes to stop myself from seeing him. Desperate needs call for desperate measures.

"You know you have no way of blocking out what I say." he said, annoying me even more with the harsh reality of his words.

Sighing, I decided to ignore him.

"Ignoring me isn't going to get you anywhere. I know you can hear me." I refused to respond and remained silent.

"Okay, well if your not going to respond. I guess this would be a good time to explain myself." I heard him walk away from me and heard the door to the room close.

Happy that he was finally gone, I opened my eyes to find him sitting right beside me. "I just wanted to close the door. So no one could come in and interrupt this." he paused and looked at me.

I decided to keep my eyes open. I would not restrain myself because of him. Ignoring him. I looked down and played with a loose thread form the blanket that covered me.

"Now, you don't have to believe me, but I think I deserve to have a say in this." He paused again and looked at me, as if waiting for a reaction.

I stayed put and refused to respond. Sighing, he continued.

"It all started the day that my father, the king, called me in into his study, telling me he had an important quest for me. When I asked why I had to complete it and not one of the members of the royal guard, he just said that there were some things in life better kept hidden." He paused.

"At the time I had thought nothing of it. It didn't occur to me that there was some significant reason as to why I had to do this and not someone else. But, before I continue, I have to say, there are some things that I can't tell you and you will have to find out on your own. Please understand that I was told to let you figure things out on your own terms." He paused and looked at me once again. Sighing, I continued to ignore him.

"Okay, so I will not tell you the whole story. Basically, when I went and saved you, I didn't even know what I was doing, or why I had to do it. All I knew was that I was doing was fulfilling my orders. And that was my opinion for most of our trip back." He seemed to get a very distant look in his eyes and looked away from me.

Confused, I looked at him as he turned back and looked at me.

"It was all the same until you decided to run off and came back with Abraxis. I'm sorry for what I did then, I was confused as to what was going on." He paused and looked at me in the eyes.

He gave me a look that made look down and play with my fingers.

"I'm glad that Abraxis explained it all to me. Because I don't think that I could have gone another minute without having known that. But I'm sorry, it's not my place to tell you what we discussed that night. All I can say is that there are still many things that you don't know about me and there are also many things that I don't know about you." He paused as he sensed me looking at him.

"As much as you may deny it and say that I know everything there is to know about you. There are many things that I still don't know about the future. There will be things that we will not tell each other. Things that we have to figure out about each other. All I can say is that our futures are linked according to everyone. So I think now is a good time to put all that behind us and accept the fact that we both have secrets and move on from there." He looked at me hopefully as if waiting for a response.

To be honest, I think that's the longest he has ever spoken, even to me.

I looked down at my hands and back up, trying to figure out a way to relieve the tension within the room.

"Okay, so why couldn't this conversation have occurred before I had run out and almost killed myself. For some reason, I think that's a secret too. That's the thing Fang. There are too many secrets within this _bond_ of ours. And to be completely honest, its not exactly the perfect relationship. Relationships need trust and honesty. Not secrets." I paused for effect, impressed by the way I had just come up with that.

"That's what I'm saying Max. We need to figure this out, and accept those secrets, revealing them when it is necessary. I'm not telling you to love me like.." he stopped abruptly and looked away from me.

Confused, I looked at him, but he just looked away.

"I'm not telling you to re-establish that small bond that we had before. I'm just asking you to give this another chance. To start over and forgive. Whether or not you forget this is up to you." He said in an almost restrained tone.

I sighed yet again, but nodded and looked up at him.

"Fine, but don't expect this to be the same. I'll take my time to forget this." I said in a guarded tone, wanting him to leave me alone.

"Now leave me alone. This does not mean that I still want to see you." I said, as tears threatened to escape from the corners of my eyes.

He looked up at me and smiled a sad smile.

"Thanks Max." he said and turned to leave.

But he suddenly stopped mid-step and turned back around, facing me. Without a word he leaned forward and placed his lips on my forehead, leaving a small kiss on my bandage and turned around quickly, leaving the room.

I stared after him as a tear escaped my eyes and landed on my hand. And soon, more tears streamed down my face, as I stared the door that he had walked out of.

I don't even know why I was crying. I had developed the first proper bond with someone that hadn't died or run away. I had managed to make a friend for the first time in my life. Someone that had the nerve to come to up to me and apologise. Someone who had explained themselves and valued our friendship.

I smiled as realisation struck. All I had ever wanted was for someone to look at me as more than a tool or something to use to clean the floors or feed the animals.

I had always been something that they used to experiment on at he Forte. Like when they had once gotten new chains in order to restrain the servants that ran away. I had been Dylan's favourite, when it had come experimenting.

Sighing bitterly, I shook my head, clearing it of all those old memories that haunted me day and night. The fear of being taken back there again and tortured for the remainder of my short life always haunted me, affecting my every move.

Looking around, I smiled at my surroundings, I was laying in a comfortable bed, in a beautiful white room, filled with the smell of lavender.

For some reason though, it seemed too perfect. It seemed too good to be true in comparison to the life that I was used to, even when I was hurt. I had never been at such comfort.

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud gasp. I jerked my head in the direction of the sound and pain shot through my neck, making me wince.

"Oh, sorry Max. I really didn't mean to startle you like that. Are you alright. Don't move your neck. I think it will be okay. Oh Iggy, will she be okay? I hope she will, because if she's hurt I will kill you. It's all your fault. You pushed me in. Oh my god Max, are you okay? Please be okay.."

I stared at Nudge as a hand clasped over her mouth and stopped her from talking. I looked up to see Iggy standing there with a smirk on his face, looking at me.

"We're really sorry for interrupting your rest Max. It's just that Fang said that you had woken up and we wanted to see if you were alright." Iggy said with a sad smile as he looked at my condition.

I had never actually properly assessed the damage, so I would need a mirror later.

Wait, how was Iggy doing that again. He seemed to have a perfect idea of what was going on and he was supposed to be blind. Sensing my gaze, Iggy looked at me straight in the eye and smiled.

"Can I ask you something Iggy?" I said before I could stop myself.

"You just did." he responded with a smile.

Amused by his attempt at lightening the mood, I let out a small laugh.

"I was wondering. Aren't you blind or something. I'm not trying to be offensive or anything. Its just that.." he interrupted me with a small smile.

"Don't ask. I already know what your question is. You want to know how I do things with such precision." I nodded and he let out a laugh.

"Well, just like Fang, I too have powers. But mine are a little different. My whole story is a little long. So I'll tell you that some other day. But as for now. All you need to know is that I can see through the eyes of others. I was looking through Nudge, to see what was going on." he explained.

I smiled at Iggy deciding not to priciest for more information on such a sensitive topic. He could tell me when he wanted.

"Wow, well I guess I was expecting something this big, but it still seems cool." I smiled at him again but was interrupted by Nudge.

"You people need to stop being so emotional and let Max tell us how she is. We were so worried about you Max. I hope you feel better." she stopped abruptly, making me laugh.

I guess she had realised that she was about to start another one of her rants. She laughed too along with Iggy.

* * *

We stayed like that for quite a while as I told them what had happened. Nudge would get a little emotional at times, but all in all it went pretty well.

At the end of it all she came up to me and hugged me, making my sides hurt. But I suppressed my pain and hugged back as well as I could, not wanting to ruin the moment.

Soon Iggy joined us too and we hugged each other for what seemed like hours, making me smile. Tears escaped my eyes and one hit Iggy's hand, making him move back and look at me. He pulled back Nudge, in order to get a better look at me.

"Why are you crying Max?" Nudge asked in a worried tone.

"Did we hurt you. I shouldn't have hugged you. I'm so sorry. I.." I cut her off and laughed, making both of them give me confused looks.

"No, its fine. Both of you did nothing. I just felt happy to be a part of something again. Thank you."

Nudge smiled at me and hugged me again.

"Well, don't scare me like that again. You are family now." she stated.

That was possibly the shortest sentence she had ever uttered. Iggy grabbed my hand and gave it a light squeeze. I smiled.

"I think that was the shortest sentence you have ever said Nudge" I said as I laughed.

She got up and looked down at me.

"Way to ruin a moment Max." She smiled and we all broke out laughing again.

Family. That sounded good.

* * *

**well, where to begin. **

**first of all, at the start of yesterday, i was thinking about discontinuing this story, due to the amount of haters i was getting.**

**but then, my friends talked me out of. (thankfully :D)**

**also, i have updated this much faster than earlier. so i hope all of you are happy :D. i hope you liked it ;).**

**now, on to reviews. well, i love all of you that read this story and especially the ones that review.**

**THANK YOU.**

**here are the lovely people that reviewed the last chapter:**

**- STALLION OF THE CIMARRON - i'm glad you , like it. i hope this was a quick update for you. enjoy!**

**- MelRose520 - thank you. i'm so glad there were no typos. :D i hope this was as good too. **

**- Fly On Maximum Taylor Ride - no this is doesn't have anything to do with eragon. i try my best to keep it far from it as possible. i hope its working. im glad you like it. thanks. i hope this was soon enough ;) :D**

**- spazway2 - thank you sooooooooooooooo much. i'm glad you like it. i hope it stays that way. tell me if you don't like anything. i'd be happy to fix it. thanks for the review! lots of love.**

**- gsfhgw - hahaha. i know. i wanted to give it a little twist from all the perfection max and fang were getting. also, i hope this chapter cleared the iggy thing for you! thanks for the review. :D**

**- AishaY - thanks zarwa ;).**

**- FangsGirl823 - im glad you like the intro of iggy. if you wanna talk then send me a message or contact me on the following : . its my fanfiction email. i hope i can help. i hope you like the chapter. im gald you reviewed. lots of love from me.**

**- Xx-ThisSucks-xX- lol yeh i agree. but i hope this was a more unique fall and black-out session ;). anyway, thanks for the review. im glad you like it.**

**- Gummy Bear - well, i'm glad that you like the intro of iggy. it was also my favourite to write :D. i'm glad you liked the fight. i wanted to take things away from the too perfect atmosphere that had been built. also, the fax in this was very minimal and a small part. i hope it did not disappoint. as for your guess on the butler. no that was not Dylan, but all will be revealed later. i hope i cleared the cliffy well.. thanks for the review. lots of love from me. :D**

**- xutd - thanks**

**- XxDDxX - thankyou fro your review sooooooooooooooo much. im glad that you liked the chapter and i hope that this chapter cleared the suspense.**

**- .attack - **** thanks, im looking forward to the cookie ;).**

**- ..ashes ****- thanks soo much. love from me.**

**- HeAt-StRoKe - thankyou! and your welcome. i like to thank all my wonderful readers.**

* * *

**lastly, i would like to give an answer to the following reviewer:**

**- Very Confused - well, where to begin. **

** - firstly, we are human, we all make mistakes. **

** - secondly, if you had read the story, you would realise that fang reveals his identity to everyone except max a few chapters ago. **

** - thirdly, i believe it is up to my reviewers to decide how i got that many reviews. if they like it, they review. also, as you may have noticed, people like yourself review and leave negative comments or criticism, so that shows that my story is not perfect in any way, and neither will i ever say that.**

** - fourthly, if people like yourself look at the story description, it clearly states that it is based on romance and has max and fang as its main characters. so please do not criticise something without looking at the full facts.**

** - fifth, i will get a beta if i feel the need. i never once said that i had full commitment to fanfiction and nothing else in my life. this is just a story that i am writing for fun and to give people something to read, just like i read theirs. if it isn't _perfect_ then i'm sorry, but i try my best at it. also, my readers dn't seem to mind. if you don't like it, don't read it.**

** - sixth, thanks for the nice comment at the end. but it was not needed. i think you made your point earlier**

** - seventh, i like reviews because i like to know how many people like my story and what they think. is that a crime? people like me can do whatever they want. like i said earlier. if you don't like it don't read it.**

* * *

**sorry about the bitch moment above people. its just that the person really got to me, and i meant every word.**

**i hope you liked the chapter.**

**i hope my little outburst didn't do any major damage.**

**read and review? R&R?**

**ok adios amigos. **

**i love you all,**

**Beeni.**

**P.S. sorry fro any errors.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hi guys. Before i begin, i would like to apologise to you for the late update. i know it has been a while, but i had my reasons. All will be explained in the authors not at the end of the chapter.**

**Now, i don't want to keep you waiting any longer than i already have.**

**Chapter 15...**

* * *

It has been three days since the doctor has allowed me to move around, out of my room. But I still wasn't allowed to roam around unsupervised.

Naturally, Nudge had taken up the job of being my new caretaker and frankly I was fine with it, except for the fact that her undying chatter always made my head ache more than it had due to my injuries.

But she never understood, even after my constant complaining, she would just tell me to suck it up. She could be so annoying sometimes. But for some reason I still loved her.

So, when Iggy had offered to take a day off his duties and help me recover, I had agreed without hesitation.

Off coarse for some reason, Iggy had sensed my eagerness towards his proposal and had not wasted any time in guessing the true nature of my decision. Which in turn caused him to laugh at me all day yesterday, seeing as he was taking care of me.

By the end though, I was even surprised, at how relieved I was when I had seen Nudge at the end of the day, making Iggy laugh even more.

He even offered to help out today, but I had quickly refused. Not wanting a repetition of yesterday. I think one day with Iggy was enough for me.

* * *

Right now I was sitting in my room admiring the newly washed sheets and curtains that had been added yesterday.

The queen and Nudge had not wasted any time when I had been stuck in my room, deciding that they would use the excuse of my condition, to help me chose colours for my room _and_ a whole new wardrobe.

Even after an hour of arguing and then another hour full of logical reasoning, with both the queen and Nudge, they had still won the on the amount of dresses I got for my new wardrobe.

I had refused to have any more dresses after choosing three new dresses. I had decided that they were enough, considering the large amount of dresses Nudge had already added to my collection a few nights ago.

But, like all other things, I was put into a position of obeying her majesty, leaving me with one choice. To chose ten more.

I had been relieved when I was done choosing my top ten dresses, but it wasn't going to stop there. Nudge had then taken my choices and shown the seamstress ten new designs, similar to my choices, to add to the long list that had already been agreed upon.

All the while, the queen had been sitting in a corner smiling at me, amused by my reaction to such things.

Now, I was not going to let them do this without getting them to agree to my side of the deal. There had to have been some sort of advantage in this situation for me, I wasn't going to let them win so easily.

So, I had proposed the idea that I got to pick about five or six new tunics and trousers made for me to wear when I wanted.

Off coarse, again, the queen and Nudge had to have their say in the matter and so offered to help me chose colours.

Reluctantly I had agreed. Only realising my mistake after they had decided to get a hot pink coloured tunic made for me.

I had protested to the idea as nicely as possible, in the end having to agree to have six made according to my choice and another six of their choice. They had promised that I would get decent colours, making agree again reluctantly.

But the catch to the situation had been that I would not get to see them until they were in my wardrobe hanging and ready to worn, making it exceedingly hard for me to disagree with any designs.

I had learned one thing that day. Never argue with a clothe-obsessed Nudge or it would just make it worse. Oh how sweat my life was.

I was glad that that was over, seeing as I think I would have lost my mind if I had been shown one more fabric pattern or dress shape. Luckily, it was never mentioned again, after that tragic day.

I think I would rather spend a day at the Forte than have to go back into that sickeningly (yes its a word) colourful room.

Sighing, I looked out my window, realising I had been in my room for too much of the day for my liking.

Nudge had to do some errands regarding something that I was not allowed to be told, presumably the dresses, and so, had left me to sit in this room.

She had threatened that she would 'deal' with me properly if I did not obey her strict. But since when had Maximum Ride followed orders?

Smiling, I poked my head out of my room, looking around, in case someone would see my brilliant escape. After I was sure there was no one there, I tip toed out of the room, hurrying to hide behind a wall as I heard someone approach.

Peaking from behind the wall, I saw a maid open the door to the room located right next mine, walking in and closing the door behind her. She hadn't seen me. Thank god.

Sighing in relief, I walked out from my place behind the wall and started walking towards the stairwell that lead to the third level of the fortress. It was time for the long awaited exploration of this fortress. I had sat in ignorance of my surroundings for far too long.

* * *

As I walked on, I was relieved that I didn't run into anyone else, especially on the stairs, seeing as I would never have been able to hide myself from view of anyone passing by.

Though I wonder if Nudge had actually alerted everyone like she said she had. I mean, the whole castle couldn't possibly know about my little incident and that I was being kept under isolation within my room.

I was suddenly jerked away from my thoughts as I bumped into someone. I looked up to see that I had been walking in the middle of the forth floor hallway, forgetting that I was supposed to remain hidden in the shadows.

As I payed more attention to the person before me, I realised that it was a boy/man, not much younger than me.

He had spiky blonde hair, cut short army style, and piercing light blue eyes. He wore a blue warrior uniform, much like the one that man had worn the day I had arrived at the fortress.

The only difference being, that his emblem was silver plated rather than bronze. He smiled at me, showing me that he knew I had been sneaking around.

"You don't need to make up an excuse. I understand how its like to be in Nudge's captivity, especially on a day like this." he smiled at me.

I smirked at him, he seemed to be level hight with me. I could actually become friends with this guy, but there was one problem. I had no idea who he was. For all I knew, he could be doing this for _other_ reasons.

"How can I trust you?" I questioned, trying to see if he had any ulterior motive.

He seemed to find my question funny and cracked a huge grin. I looked at him in question, I'm pretty sure there was no humour intended within what I had said.

"My names Gazzy. Formally known as Gary. But hey, no one ever calls me that. I am a member of the royal guard, second in command after Fang. One of the most trusted men of this part of the land. And you ask me that question?" he smiled at the end of his sentence.

Feeling a little uneasy, I just nodded and decided to walk on, but he followed.

"Well, I guess for starters, if you want to actually get anywhere sneaking around, Max, I would suggest that you hide." he stated the obvious.

Wait, how had he known my name?

"How do you know my name?" I asked, a little curious as to what extent Nudge had gone for my protection.

"Well, last night, Nudge had given the royal guard different shifts on different levels of the fortress, telling us that we had to make sure that you were in your room at all times." he said matter of factly.

I looked at him with an you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look, but he only smiled wider. We stood there for a little longer before I broke the silence.

"Well then, I have to go now, seeing as I really should get started exploring this place if I want to finish by the time Nudge get back from her errands." I smiled.

Gazzy only nodded his head and motion down the hall.

"There are no more guards positioned on this level, and as far as I'm concerned, I can't see you. As for the other levels, there is one guard positioned on either end of each level, so be careful." he instructed.

I just nodded and gave him a little wave before walking away. I think I made a new friend.

As I reached the end of the hallway I saw two large black and gold doors, located at the very centre of a large wall. Smiling triumphantly, I made my way towards them. I had finally found my first place to explore.

As I reached the doors, I slowly pushed them back, surprised that they opened with ease. Looking around one last time, I walked into the room as quietly as possible, closing the door behind me.

The room was dark from the inside, with rows of other doors located on either sides of a hallway which seemed to lead to a large room.

Slowly, I walked towards one of the doors, grabbing onto the cold metal handle, and pushed it forward. The door opened with a small creek, as I stuck my head in to see what was inside.

This room was very small, with only little bits of furniture scattered here and there. To one side of the room, there was a small couch with an even smaller wooden table located in front of it.

Beside the couch was a large stand containing different types of armour and battle weapons of all sizes. I moved forward and ran my hand over a small blade, which hung at the very centre of the stand.

Alongside it was a large sword, with a golden hilt. I had a sudden urge to touch the hilt, and moved my hand up towards it.

As my hand got closer and closer, the handle seemed to become brighter, to an extent where it lit up the small room with an almost blinding light.

Covering my eyes with my left hand, I move my right forward and quickly grabbed the hilt, send a large heatwave through my body. All at once I felt more energetic than I had ever felt before.

_I see that you have discovered one of you many capabilities. Although, it will take time for you to understand exactly what is expected of you. _

Abraxis? I quickly moved my hand away from the hilt of the sword and the heat left my body as soon as it had come. I looked around, not sure where she could be.

_Be calm child, there is no need to worry. I am not with you right now, but we will see each other again very soon._

She seemed to pause as I caught my breath, not realising how much my breathing had quickened.

_Enjoy all the pleasure for now, and be careful as to who you call you friends. It will only help you later. _

With that I felt her withdraw from my head and a sudden loneliness erupted within me. Looking back at the sword, I touched the hilt one more time, but nothing happened.

There was no glow, no feeling of warmth, but the hilt felt comfortable in my hand, as if it was made for me to hold.

I moved my hand away and admired the other sets of armour within the room. There were all sorts of helmets, knives, daggers and shields, each had only one thing in common.

There was a small picture of a blue dragon, making its way up each blade. As I focused my attention back to the large sword, I saw that it too had a dragon running along its blade. Looking closer, I realised that the dragon looked freakishly similar to Abraxis.

Blinking slightly in confusion, I moved back towards the entrance of the room and opened the door, leading back to the hallway.

I stood there stunned at what had just happened. The feeling of attachment I had felt when I had first touched the blade of the large sword returned, making me shiver.

Closing my eyes, I tried to focus back on my situation. I was standing in the middle of a small hallway leading to some place I had no idea.

A part of me told me that maybe I had explored enough for one day, but the part of me urged me to go and see what the room contained. The curious side of me won, like always.

Smiling, I looked around, making sure there was no one around before making my way towards the large room at the end of the hallway.

As I reached the entrance a familiar and yummy sent entered my nostrils, but I couldn't quite place where I had smelt it before. It smelt like the fresh morning smell of a forest mixed with some sort of musk. All I could say was that it made my insides tingle.

Looking around the large room, I realised that it contained two large couches and a large glass table at the centre, much like the ones in the dining hall.

To one side of the room there was a large table which seemed to have many different scrolls scattered across it. Behind it there was a large black chair, with a golden crown at the very top of its back board.

There was a dragon on either side of the crown circling it. Next to the desk, on the closest wall, there was a large window with its closed curtains.

Walking over to the window, I slowly opened the curtains as my breath hitched at the sight before me. Outside there was a beautiful view of the valley, the village in clear view with all its hustle bustle.

The sun had started to lower in the sky indicating that it was a little past midday. People were walking around, like little ants in there colonies.

I saw farm animals in their paddocks and farmers ploughing their fields, probably getting ready to plant new season fruits and vegetables.

I stood at the window for a little longer, before moving back and making myself comfortable on the big black chair in front of the table.

Looking around, I saw maps sprawled all over the table, with certain pinpoint markings and little notes added to them.

As I looked through the markings I realised that it was in fact a map of the fortress, containing all the the different areas that guards were located and little pencil notes indicating their duties.

Not thinking, I picked up a pencil and started to mark in a few areas that had been missed, also adding the guards direction and duty. There were a few blind-spots within the plan that had been missed and could be used as good ways in entering the castle.

As I scanned the map, my gaze landed on the border of the thick forest behind the fortress, reminding me of the tragic night I had spent in the trench.

The days after that had been exceedingly emotional for me, for some reason, as the trench brought back memories of the day mother had died.

The General had locked me up in a similar place, threatening to behead me if I spoke a single word to anyone about the events that had occurred that night.

Off coarse, at the time I had kicked and screamed, not listening to anything that he had been saying, as the memories of my mother with her bloodied body flashed back into my head. He hadn't let me out until I had calmed down about three days after the incident.

I think that was the main reason I had cried that day in the healthcare room. Because I had forgotten what it was like to have a family, and images of the happy royal family snapped in and out of my head. There were only few things in life that could make me cry, and remembering back to that night, I realised that the memory of my mother was one of them.

* * *

I was sucked out of my thoughts as I heard the opening and closing of doors. Quickly acting at the spur of the moment, I ducked under the table. There was a large board under the table, covering most of me, hopefully it was enough.

Ducking, I looked out from the crack in the wood at who had entered the room. At first I only saw a pair of back trousers and boots, standing in the middle of the room. Slowly, the person seemed to move back and I suppressed a gasp as I realised it was Fang.

He seemed to be looking at the doors he had entered from, before moving towards the table and moving behind it, sitting on the chair I had been sitting at. I heard the ruffling of papers and he seemed to pick something up, there was a long pause and the sound of a pen against paper.

He seemed to roll up a scroll, before letting his hand drop down, giving me a clear view of the map I had modified.

Trying not to make a sound at my surprise, I looked around. Did he know I was here? Or was it just coincidence that he seemed to drop his hand down? Slightly confused, I decided to reveal myslef. I mean, what was the worst he could do?

As I was about to get out of my hiding spot he stood closer to the table at the same time as I heard doors opening again.

Then there were many muffled voices as a group of men entered the room, standing in single file at the centre of the room.

Looking at their face I only recognised two, Iggy and Gazzy. Gazzy stood a few steps behind Iggy and the rest of the men, a few steps behind Gazzy.

Fang moved to the other side of his table and looked at all the men, slightly nodding his head at Iggy and Gazzy.

"As you all may know, there was a security breaching a few days ago, as a trap was found in the clearing leading to the back forest. You may all know that the person involved was seriously injured, meaning that whoever put it up had known the full effect if their little trap." He paused and stopped pacing, standing in front of a large board.

"We don't know who it was yet or the reason behind the trap, but I hope to fill in all the missing pieces as soon as possible." he instructed.

For a second his gaze dropped as looking straight at the place I was seated behind the large wooden board. He looked back up slowly and seemed to be smirking to himself.

I think he knew I was in here. Looking sideways, I mentally face-palmed myself as I realised I had left the curtains to the large window open. Good way to give yourself away Max. I would have to pick up my act if I wanted to get anywhere in the art of hidden exploration.

"You are some of my most senior guards, meaning you have control over certain areas around the fortress. As you may have noticed, our previous plan of attack didn't really work well, so I have come up with some things that I think needed to be improved." he paused and scanned the line of men.

Fangs, voice brought me back to looking at him, as he scanned the row of guards. It looked as if he was mentally analysing them.

"Also, the new recruits from the village will be ready by the end of this week, so they will be joining your teams and I will be promoting some men in their positions. New groups will be formed, as it has been brought to my attention that there are some areas that will needed to be watched." Again he paused and looked down at the table with a smirk on his face.

Looking around at the men I realised that Gazzy seemed to look down at the table and a smile appeared on his face along with Iggy's.

It then occurred to me that Iggy must be using Gazzy to look around. Everyone else didn't seem to notice what they were grinning at and continued to look at Fang.

"I would like you to take a quick look at this map before you leave. This meeting will be shorter, we will meet again at the same time tomorrow and I will hand you each a map for plan of attack for each of your designated areas. Dismissed." Fang finished.

The men moved forward and each one looked at the map in Fang's hands before leaving, all except Iggy and Gazzy.

All of a sudden all three men turned towards the table, smiling.

I was caught.

* * *

**Okay, so what do you think? i hope it was good. although it was a sort of half-filler chapter, it was necessary for me to have this here for more than just a few reasons. **

**Also, i introduced Gazzy in this chapter, i hope you like the introduction. Next chapter should be Angel. After that, the action will start. ;)**

**Now, for the explanation for my late update. Firstly, i was really busy in the past few days due to some school work. I had holiday homework and other study to do, so i had to finish all of that first. I am so sorry that i couldn't keep up with what i said at the beginning of last week, regarding my fast updates due to my holidays. :) Other than that, i don't think i have anything else to say fro myself. **

**Now, to the best part of this A/N. Thanking the wonderful reviewers for last chapter:**

**- aishaimnotbotheredlogging - well, aisha, thanx for the support. i hope that loser has decided to go now...:D**

**- FangsGirl823 - thanks for the support. i think i'm going to have one last rant at that loser at the end of this. :D. thanx for the analysis, i appreciate it. a for the emotionality of that chapter, well i hope it was cleared in this chapter. also, you told me about that story before. are you going to do it? if you want to contact me, my email is on my profile, so i think that will help. also, i hope you liked this chapter and thanx for the review. lots of love from me.**

**- HeAt-StRoKe - :)))). thanks. **

**- wings - thank you for the huge complement. i really appreciate your like for this story. thanx for the review. :D**

**- spazway2 - thank you sooooo much. i really appreciate your love for the story. HUGS from me too. thanx fort the review. :D**

**- oOo KitKat oOo - thanx. i appreciate that you like the constant update. i hope it made up for this late one. yeah, the family moment was needed, you'll realise why later though. ;). lots of love from me. thnx for the review. **

**- Xx-ThisSucks-xX - thank you for the suppost. those types of people really tick me off. i'm glad you liked the balance. :DD. thnx for the review. :)**

**- Gummy Bear - hahaha, i can never get enough of you long reviews. thank you sooooooo much. i appreciate that you like the chapter. also, yes there were less of Max's thoughts, but, as you said, they didn'y quite fit in there. another thing, the story has just begun properly, there will be many more secrets and misunderstandings, i just hope that everyone likes them. than you soo much for the complements you give me, honestly though, i am really not that great. but thnx anyway, i'm glad i can make you happy. as for the rest, the Fax will continue, along with everything else, i have a few twists and turns planned first though. i hope you enjoy. lots and lots of love and chocolate from me. **

**- GirlWithTheBrokenWings - well, thanx for the reviews that you gave me. i appreciate all the criticism. i'm glad you like this and i hope to improve it even more. :D**

**- Fly On Maximum Taylor Ride - thanx for the review. and yes, there were a lot of review replies, i like to let everyone know that i appreciate their time in writing up a review for this story. this wasn't exactly really soon, but i hope you forgive me for the delay and that this chapter can make up for it. :D thanks again. (smiles).**

**- MelRose520 - i'm glad you like the stroy. and i agree, some people on fanfiction do some very stupid things. but hey, it's their loss not ours. :D. thanx for the review. (smiles)**

**- mysterious person - thnx, i appreciate it. (smiles)**

**- Abbi - well, thankyou. and as for teh dead or alive thing, well you will have to wait and see. i have already given a lot away by saying this :0. thanx for the review. :D**

**-JezabelStrike - thnx for the review. i hope you like it this chapter. :D**

* * *

**Now, before i continue i would like to say a few words to 'very amused': **

**- go get a life. because you really don't seem to have one. i mean, you spend your time writing up two-page long hate reviews to people who quite frankly do not give a shit. so buzz off. get a life other than one dedicated to ruining others.**

**- and as for attacking my friends, well, i never knew a person could stoop that low. first me and then my friends, pathetic. and here i was thinking that maybe you actually had some dignity within you.**

**- lastly, any other reviews that you give me from this point on, i will gladly delete them. this is the last time i write anything back to you. so i have three words for you:**

**fuck off bitch.**

* * *

**yeah, sorry about that, i believe it was necessary.**

**anyway, onto a lighter note, i hope you liked the chapter. **

**it is always a pleasure writing for you people.**

**Adios Amigos,**

**Beeni**

**P.S. sorry for any errors. **


	16. Chapter 16

**Okay, so before you guys all murder me and bring me back and then do it again. i can explain as to why i have not updated in a very long time. i hope you guys didn't abandon me. but, as i was saying, i have some very valid reasons as to why i have not updated. these include the follow:**

**- i have had a lot of work. i had a lot of assessment tasks and the like, so i was really really really busy.**

**- also, i started this chapter ages ago, just couldn't finish it in the middle, because i was having major writers block.**

**- also, my laptop was taken in for repair for the last two weeks, so couldn't do anything about that for a long time. i just got it back at 8am yesterday morning.**

**- lastly, i am having mid-terms. so i have been studying and have had a heap of work. my mid-terms continue next week, so no update until Friday or Saturday next week. but, after that i promise to try harder and update faster. **

**okay, so now. on with the story...**

* * *

I looked out from behind my place underneath the table. The were so many possibilities running through my head as to what would happen.

The boys had been standing there and starring at me for what seemed like hours, and quite frankly, I was getting a little uncomfortable under Fang's intense gaze.

I quietly debated in my head, as to whether I should reveal myself, or wait for them to find me, or tell me to come out. It was a hard choice, considering that both of the possibilities were predictably, not going to have good outcomes for me.

As I sat there debating with myself, I did not realise that the boys had moved from where they had been standing in front of the table, to behind it now.

Peaking up from my place under the table, I saw that Fang had a smug look on his face, while both Iggy and Gazzy seemed to be planning something, together.

Slightly curious as to what was going on, I moved my head out a little to get a better view of them, not realising that I was exposing myself into their line of sight. Fang suddenly broke the silence.

"You see, I told you both she was in here. I could hear-" but then he cut himself off, as if remembering something.

Iggy seemed to have smug look on his face as he looked at Fang, sort of questioning his abrupt stop, but looked back at me after receiving a look from Fang.

As Fang turned back towards me, I finally got out from under the table, my muscles finally relaxing after being cramped up in the same position for so long.

Suddenly Fang turned towards Iggy and smirked. Sighing, Iggy reached into his pocket and took out a bag of coins.

"How do I know that's all of it?" Fang asked with a smile.

"Do you really think I would cheat you Fang?" Iggy asked with a sincere tone.

He had an amused look in his eyes, evidently suggesting that something was definitely up. As Fang undid the the tight string around the rim of the bag, both Iggy and Gazzy seemed to take a step back, with wide eyes.

Fang reached into the bag and pulled out some coins, smiling at both Iggy and Gazzy. As soon as the smug look came, it disappeared. Fang's face flashed with surprise, pain and then pure and lethal anger. He looked at the boys and gave them a murderous death glare.

Before I knew what was going on, Iggy and Gazzy seemed to run towards a large wooden door at an inhuman speed.

Fang threw the bag of money across the room and turned towards the direction they had run. As he was about to run after them, I took the opportunity to sneak away from my place next to the table and tried to sneak towards the entrance of the room. The operative word being _tried_.

As soon as I moved away from the table Fang stopped in his tracks and turned back, facing me with a smirk.

"Did you really think that I would let you get away with your little expedition around the castle?" he said, now standing in front me.

Not knowing what to do about my situation, I just looked away from him towards the brown door that Iggy and Gazzy had run out of, hoping that he would think there was something behind him. But off coarse, he just kept staring at me, an amused look appearing on his face.

Well, that didn't work. Looking around, I took in the rest of the room. I had not had enough time to get a proper look-around because of the meeting. But really, all I was doing was trying to avoid Fang's question and trying to find a way to distract him from just staring at me.

I was starting to feel edgy and uncomfortable under his gaze. As if sensing my discomfort, Fang moved closer to me, making me take a step back, until I was leaning against something. A sharp object suddenly touched my back, making me wince and move forward abruptly.

As soon as I took a step froward, I regretted it, as I crashed into his rock hard chest. For starters, I was too surprised to pull away all at once, so I stood there looking at his chest for what seemed like hours, but was probably a minute or two.

After I settle a little from my shocked state I looked up at him, only then realising that he was holding me by my waist. As I looked down at his hands, the wooden door leading to wherever Iggy and Gazzy had disappeared off to opened, revealing a girl staring at us with shocked eyes.

Suddenly, I realised mine and Fang's position, and how awkward it would look an onlooker who had no idea what was going on. The girl seemed to realise the awkwardness of the moment and began to say all sort of thing at once.

She mumbled on like that for a few minutes, before Fang finally raised his hand up and silenced her. Then nodded at her to start speaking again.

"Her majesty was looking for you, she told me to pass on a message to you." She stopped and looked up at Fang. He nodded in approval and she continued.

"She told me to tell you that she needs your help. Max seems to have gone missing and she is getting worried. She would appreciate if you could meet her as soon as possible in the first floor common room." With that she stopped and looked up at Fang, as if indicating she had finished her address.

Fang just nodded his head again and she left, closing the door behind her.

"Well, seems like the fortress is under quite a spell, with your sudden _disappearances."_ He emphasised the last word with a hint of sarcasm. Not knowing what to say after our uncomfortable encounter before, I just nodded and looked down, lost for words for the first time.

As I tried to move back, I realised that he was still holding onto me. I looked down at his hands and he seemed to sense my discomfort and pulled back, taking a few steps back.

"I will go down to the common room and must go into your room and make up some sort of story explaining as to where you had disappeared to." With that he gave me one last look and walked towards the the large black doors I had entered from.

As he exited the room, he gave me one last glance before smirking and closing the door. Leaving me standing alone inside the large meeting room.

Slowly, I moved towards the couch at the centre of the room, and flopped down on it, trying to figure out what had just happened. When Fang had had his arms around me, something that I had lost a long time ago had erupted within me, making me shiver.

Slowly running my hand through my messy hair, I looked towards the large black doors that he had just exited from. I was not sure what had happened, but whatever it was, had felt good. It had felt like the moments I so dearly missed. The moments that I remembered of my mother and father holding me.

The times back at the palace I had once called home. I had felt the feeling I used to feel when I would run around in all the free open space surrounding our palace, laughing and happy. The moments before the invasion. The moment before my father was killed in a cold blooded massacre.

Sighing, I shook my head. I had to get back to my room before the queen and Fang did. Standing up, I slowly walked towards the door I had entered through. Pulling the door open, I took one last look at the room and moved into the hallway.

For some reason, I felt a pull as I walked away, as if something or someone was calling me back. Looking back, I made sure that no one was in fact calling me, or trailing me.

As I walked down the stairs to the third level, the pulling feeling on my heart strengthened, making me feeling emotionally exhausted as I finally reached the door to my room.

As I entered, I heard voices on the other side of the hallway, getting closer. Quickly I walked into my room and shut the door as quietly as I could, slowly walking into my closet and settling myself behind a large mass of dresses.

Leaning against the wall, I slid down and rested on the floor. As soon as I sat down, I felt so exhausted, my eyes closing, taking me into a state of unawareness.

* * *

As I opened my eyes, I realised that I was laying in a bed. Looking around I panicked. Where was I? Slowly I looked around and realised I was in fact in my own room.

Sighing in relief, I tried to remember when I had miraculously shifted from my position in the closet to my bed. As if on cue, Nudge walked into my room and placed a basket onto the my bed-side cabinet. Looking at me, she smiled as I closed my eyes, pretending to be sleeping.

"No point in pretending now Maxi. Get up!" Nudge exclaimed as she ripped the blankets off me, making a cold shiver run through me.

Looking up at Nudge, I gave her a glare and started to get up, but she ran out of my room, squealing, knowing exactly what she was in for. As I finally got out of bed, I walked into my bathroom and looked at the bath tub smiling, Nudge had already prepared the bath for.

She knew how to get on my good side. You see, we had made a deal a while ago, well, there wasn't much in it for me. I had said I would do all my chores myself, considering I was not used to doing my own things.

She had readily agreed and said, it only made her life easier, so she was fine with it if I was. We had become friends, rather than her being my servant.

Slowly, I pried off the tunic I had been wearing and got into the warm bath water. Now this was good.

I had needed this, what after all the sudden emotional outbursts yesterday, I was exhausted. I was not used to displaying the least bit of emotion. So I guess all these new feelings were new to me.

As I lay back, I remembered all of yesterdays events. It had definitely been a interesting day. First meeting Gazzy, and then discovering the armour room, then the weird creepy thing the armour had done when it had started to sparkle, I really had to go back there.

There was something about that room, something about the way all the armour seemed to be marked by a blue dragon. I would have to go back.

As I thought back to yesterdays events, someone knocked on my bathroom door. Assuming that might was Nudge, I called her in.

As soon as I turned around, I realised how wrong I had been in assuming who it was. Standing there with a small smile was the queen. As I realised my mistake, a small blush crept up onto my cheeks, as I looked down at my hands.

I was not expecting her to come and visit me this early in the morning.

"I hope you don't mind me coming in at this time of morning, especially considering that you seem to be busy. I could come back later." She paused, waiting for my answer.

"No, it's okay. Stay. I was just finishing up. I'll be out in a minute." I assured.

With that she left the room with a smile, closing the door behind her. As soon as she was out, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I had five minutes to wash my hair and get dressed in my robe, before she got suspicious as to why I was taking too long in coming out.

Quickly, I grabbed the hair ointment and rubbed it into my hair, making sure to rub it in all the necessary places that Nudge had told me as quickly as I possibly could.

I don't think I had ever showered this fast, even during my time at the Forte, I had always been the one to bath longest and then get in trouble for it.

As I got out of the bath, I wrapped a towel around myself, before carefully making my way towards the clothes that Nudge had hung on a hook for me.

I had an option of wither wearing a green tunic, with gold embroidery around the neckline and black leather trousers, or a green velvet gown that was full-sleeved due to the cold weather outside. I decided to wear the gown, seeing as the queen was outside waiting for me, and she preferred the gowns over the tunics.

As I walked out of the bathroom, the queen looked up and smiled.

"You look absolutely beautiful Max. Great choice. It will be a marvellous outfit for your first time in town." She explained.

Noticing my confused look about going into town, she further explain.

"Well, you see, you have been with us for quite some time now, and towns people have been longing to see who the new guest to the fortress was. Originally you were supposed to go a week ago, but, due to your sudden injury we had to postpone the visit." She paused and looked at me, with a sympathetic smile.

"So, we decided, that since Fang and the guards are going into town today anyway, to inspect the new recruits for the royal guard, that you going with them would not do any harm. You would be guarded by many of the strongest men, who will also be accompanying Fang into town." She finished, looking at me expectantly, as if waiting for my response.

This was definitely a surprise. I've been wanting to go into town ever since the moment I had arrived here. It would be so much fun. I would finally be able to see the lifestyle of many of the towns-people and the way they did things.

I couldn't remember a time where I had gone with my father on his monthly visits to the town. Life as a normal person was so new to me. I mean I had been taken out of a living hell environment and brought into an almost heavenly place. I had never experience limbo, or the life of the commoners. This was so exciting.

"But you don't have to go today. It is up to you."Said the queen, taking my silence as a gesture that I did not want to go.

Looking up at her, I gave her a huge grin.

"Off coarse I want to go. This will be great. Thank you so much Val." I said, still finding it uncomfortable call her by her nickname.

Her face quickly lit up, as she beamed at me in response.

"This is great, I will send Nudge along with you. You can finally so some exploring beyond these fortress walls." she smiled, as if suggesting that she knew what I had been up to all of yesterday.

Smirking, I turned away and started to look at my reflection on my dressers mirror.

"I'll leave you to get ready now. Nudge should be hear in about another hour." With that she smiled and left me alone in the room.

As soon as she left the room, I made my way to the bathroom and changed into my green tunic, making sure to hang the gown back onto the hook I had found it on, and made my way over to the dresser.

As I stared at my reflection, I realised my skin had become a few shades darker its regular regular paler. The prominent freckles I had once had scattered across my nose, were now lighter and almost blended in with my skin colour.

As I noticed my hair, I realised that it had started to get dark sun-steaks than I had last noticed. It had been too long I had properly paid attention my physical state. As I turned, by breath caught at the sight of a slight dark blue streak that ran through the back of my hair.

I studied it in amazement, trying to figure out how my hair turned blue. I'm sure someone would have mentioned it earlier, if they had seen it.

Slowly, I weaved my fingers through my hair, trying to see if there were any more streaks that I did not know of. Luckily there was just one that ran down the side of my head. Studying the blue streak, I realised that it actually looked pretty good in the middle of my soft blonde curls.

Smiling, I picked up the hair brush from my dresser and slowly moved it through my hair, humming an unknown tune to myself.

* * *

I had waited for Nudge to come and tell me to come down to the living room. After a while I decided to make my own way down stairs. I mean, I had to find out what was taking the girl so long.

As I made my way down, the large staircase, I heard the sound of slight laughter coming from behind a door, at the bottom of the stairs. As I got closer, the sound started sounding more and more familiar.

Opening the large wooden door leading to the room, I gasped at the sight before me. At the centre of the room sat Nudge, on a couch, with Iggy beside her, his arm around her waist as she leaned into him and giggled occasionally.

Standing there watching the two flirt with each other playfully, I did not notice the smile that had crept up on my face. As small sigh escaped me as I watched the two talk to each other so happily. Iggy seemed to give her a look that I had only once seen before, but I couldn't quite remember.

Suddenly, they both froze and looked up, staring at me with open mouths. Realising what was going, I slightly smirked and nodded at Nudge. She fought back a blush, that crept up on her cheeks and buried her head in Iggy's shoulder.

A small laugh escaped my lips and she looked up at me, giving me a sheepish grin, before getting up and walking towards me.

"I can explain.." But I cut her off.

"Don't worry Nudge, there is nothing for you to explain, I get it." I said with a grin as I nudged her in the side, making her blush like crazy, until Iggy cleared his throat.

Looking up, I smirked before putting on an angry face.

"And as for you young man. Fraternising with my best friend without my permission, I am appalled." I said, trying to hold back laughter at the look of shock and fear he had on his face.

He stared at me with pleading eyes, and that was enough for me to double over with laughter.

"You really thought that I was serious." I said between laughs.

The look of annoyance that appeared on his face made me laugh even more, as tears started to make their way down my face. Soon Nudge also joined in as we laughed at a now amused/annoyed Iggy.

After the laughter subsided I gave both of my friends a serious look.

"You need to be careful. You're lucky it was only me this time. It could have been anyone at that door." I paused as they both nodded, Iggy slightly gulping.

I smirked.

"And Nudge, if you are late to your duties again, someone will notice. This time it was just me, but imagine it had been the queen." I said, as I gave them both a smile.

You see, in the Fortress Hierarchy, Nudge wasn't exactly very high up, even if she was one of the most trusted and well-know servants within the castle. So a relationship with the prince, was considered highly inappropriate, considering both their social standards were so different.

I heard learned of such things as a basic lesson in my time at the Forte.

Sighing, I walked out of the room, Nudge at my heal, still smiling. I felt a smile creep its way up onto my lips as I watched her walk along with me to the castle meeting room, where we would meet up with the rest of the men heading into town.

As we walked into the room, I realised that it was the same room as the one I had "explored" yesterday.

We had entered from the door that the others had used yesterday. As I looked around, I noticed that all the men were dressed in silver armour, standing in single file in front of Fang as he stood at his desk.

As we walked in I noticed Fang look up and smirk from whatever he had been doing before.

"So glad you could join us Max, Nudge." I realised that he was mocking us and glared at him, making his smirk widen as he gestured for us to join him up front.

As I walked up next to Fang, the large doors leading to the room slammed open, revealing a huffing Iggy, as he ran into the room with a bunch of scrolls.

"Ah, Iggy, I am glad you have finally realised your duties." Fang smirked.

I noticed that Gazzy was standing at the end of the line of men, helping Iggy hand each man a scroll. After they were done, they walked to the front and handed Fang a scroll.

"The scrolls that have been given to you contain maps and the assessment criteria for all new recruits that will be chosen today. I expect you all to do your very best, and keep the honour and pride of the fortress in mind while making your decisions. Dismissed. We will meet back in this room later on for the evening meeting." Fang ordered.

With that all the men left, leaving me, Iggy, Gazzy, Nudge and Fang in the room.

"Well, I guess we should all get a move-on too. But first, we have to get Max to armour-up." Stated Fang as he walked towards the hallway of doors that I had seen yesterday.

He stopped in front of the one I had opened yesterday, and turned around, looking straight at me.

"Well, come on then open the door." He urged me.

I looked at him and raised an eyebrow in question, not knowing what he had meant.

"Well, you see, once someone touches a piece of armour, the set becomes their, imprinted with their touch and name. But, this doesn't just happen on its own. You have to have the power of one of the mighty four dragons. And, I am assuming that you entered this room yesterday, because that is the only thing that would explain the blue water droplet that has appeared on the door of the room. That is the mark of the ancient water dragon, Abraxis." He explained.

I was staring at him with an open mouth, a million questions running through my head as I stepped forward and placed my hand on the handle of the door.

As small light appeared and the door opened, revealing the beautiful armour I had seen yesterday. A gasp escaped me as I saw the branded battle armour with the water mark on it, hanging from the far wall of the small room.

Following my gaze, I heard Fang chuckle and looked back at him, glaring.

"What's so funny now, pretty boy?" I asked, annoyance evident in my voice.

This only made him grin wider as he moved forward and motioned for me to grab a set of light silver armour, blue-rimmed with golden edges.

As I grabbed the set of armour, I felt a jolt of energy make its may through me. _Hello, Max. It is good isn't it? The energy I mean. _I hear Abraxis whisper to me in my head. Smiling, I just nodded, knowing that she would feel it.

As I turned around, I did not realise how close behind me Fang had been standing behind me, making me knock right into his hard chest.

Slightly dizzy, I looked up to see Fang had a large smirk on his face and he reached behind me, making my heart race at a speed I did not know was possible.

As he leaned forward, I felt myself lean in further, until he grabbed my hand from from behind me and take my armour. I suddenly blinked, finally able to break away from the spell he had had me under.

"Let me help you put this on." He smirked, with a hint of amusement within his eyes.

I nodded dumbly, not knowing what else to do, as I tried to make sense of what had just happened or was about to happen.

I was brought back to reality as I felt something slide over my head, making me look up to see Fang slipping a piece of body armour over my head, slowly dropping it onto my shoulders, his hands staying there for a second longer that I think was necessary.

My heart raced again, not knowing what was happening.

* * *

**Okay... so, like it? hate it? review it!**

**i hope the longer length of the chapter made up for all the time that i did not update. **

**Also, 28 Reviews! holy cow, i love all you guys. i hope u can forgive me for being such an ass and abandoning this for a while.**

* * *

**now, i must thank alllll my lovely reviewers:**

**- Neon shoelaces and Fax- hahaha, yeh, but i am over it now. thanks for the review, and i hope this chapter was good too. tell me what you think.**

**- AishaY- :))))) thanks.**

**- spazway2- thank you soooooo much. i appreciate the review. i hope i haven't lost you and i also hope this chapter was up tp standard. thnx for the review. :D**

**- ChrisyLikesToEatMangoes- thankyou sooooo much. you have no idea what that meant to me. i am glad that you liked my review, but as i said, your story is great, so continue! as for the haters, i have learned to ignore them. i really can not be stuffed. :)))) i hope you liked this chapter too. lots of love from Australia.**

**- TheDarkAngelofAwesome- hahaha, thanks for the support. i appreciate it greatly. as for the late update, i amreally sorry. i hope this is a good chapter too. thnx for the review. :D**

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**- XxDDxX- i'm glad that you liked it. i really don't mind that you forgot the last chappie review. it happens. thanx sooooo much for the review. 3**

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**- HeAt-StRoKe- hahaha, thanx. its ok about the late review. after all, this is a late chapter... :)))**

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**- FangsGirl823- hahaha, answered your review before, but i would just like to say thankyou sooo much. also, sorry for the late update. i hope you didn't think i had abandoned you. also, as for the other story, hows it going? get back to me soon. lots of love from me. 3**

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**okay, so that was all of them.i would like to thak all the peole that read this, even if you do or do not review. THANK YOU!**

**also, i hope you can all frogive me for this late update. really sorry.**

**now, i have to go to sleep.**

**Adios Amegos,**

**Beeni.**

**P.S. R&R?**

**P.P.S. sorry for any errors.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hii everyone. How are you all? It has been a very long time..again. Sorry. But, like before, i have the same excuse as to why I haven't been updating. I would totally understand if you guys hated me now. :(**

**But...I did make the chapter much longer this time. So i hope that can kinda compensate for the late update. **

**So here we go...**

* * *

I stood motionless as I waited for something to happen. A small knock sounded on the rooms door, making my head shoot up suddenly.

Fang's hands left my shoulders and rested by his sides, before he called for the person to enter. The small wooden door opened to reveal Iggy, standing there grinning from ear to ear.

I raised an eyebrow, and watched as his grin grew wider, if that was even possible. Suddenly Fang growled in anger from beside me, before running and taking off after Iggy.

Slightly confused as to what was going on, I finished wearing my armour and walked out to see both the boys laughing, as Fang fixed his armour.

It was the first time I had properly acknowledged his attire. He was dressed in a black tunic with matching leather trousers, as always, the only difference this time, was the grey body shield he wore on top, with a silver and midnight emblem, containing a a black dragon.

I instantly recognised the midnight emblem as one that belonged to a war dragon.

Feeling, my gaze on him, Fang turned to look at me as I watched both boys, with a confused look on my face.

After a moment, Iggy straightened up and cleared his throat, as if to break the awkward silence that had started to make its way into the room.

I broke away from my daze, as Fang finally spoke.

"So, now that you are all armoured up, I think its a good idea that we start heading towards town, everyone will be awaiting our arrival."

I slowly nodded back at him in response, as he moved towards a door leading to one of the many fortress balconies. Iggy followed suite, with me at his tail.

We stepped out onto the balcony, I realised that it was in fact much larger than the one that was attached to my own room.

As I stood and admired the view that it had of the towns-people, a small gust of wind blew my hair into my face, taking my attention away from the scenery.

From above us landed three dragons, two of which were Sabre and Abraxis, and a red one that I did not recognise. As soon as I caught sight if my dragon, a huge smile made its way across my lips.

It had been a long time since I had made any direct contact with her, and it felt good to see her well and healthy after so long.

Knowing what I was thinking, I heard Abraxis chuckle within my head, before shaking her head and standing in a relaxed position.

Fang was the first to move towards Sabre, slowing adjusting himself onto his back. Iggy went next, on the red dragon, making sure that he was securely set into the saddle.

As I moved towards Abraxis, a warm feeling filled me, as s part of my that I had not realised was missing, came back to being whole again.

_I see you have missed me, Maximum. _What? I hadn't heard someone say my full name in a very long time. The last time anyone had called me by the name had been at my fathers funeral, when I had been given the privilege of watching my father been berried in front of my eyes.

The emperor that thought he was doing me a life-long favour, though I think he knew as well as I did, that I had not wanted to be there any more than the father probably would have.

He had been a strong man. Someone that I had looked up to at any time of need. I had set him as my role model, following his footsteps in becoming a great ruler for our land. But that dream had been short-lived.

All that I had once owned and wanted, had disappeared right before my eyes, and I had been weak, not being able to fight back. But now, I would.

With the help of Abraxis and whoever else would join me, I would bring down that ghastly place. I would make sure that I got back at every one of those arrogant bastards that had threaten me, or tried to kill me.

_Calm down, girl. You need to breathe. Focus on what is before you right now, rather than what you plan for the future. _ I heard Abraxis say in my head.

Sighing, I mentally nodded and got onto Abraxis' back. As I looked around, I noticed Fang was now staring at me, with a look of intensity within his eyes.

But like many other good things, the emotion was short-lived and disappeared as soon as it had come.

Turning himself around, Fang focused in front of him, where I noticed Nudge had now started to mount a silver dragon. I had never seen the dragon before.

It was beautiful, its scales shining as the afternoon sunlight reflected off them. Noticing that I had been looking, the dragon nodded in my direction, before Nudge turned around to look at me.

I grinned as she waved at me, just as Iggy's dragon took off into the air. Nudge followed suite, leaving me and Fang back on the ground.

With a sudden beat of her wings, Abraxis lifted herself off the ground around the same time Sabre did, both dragons hoisting themselves into the air in unison.

Abraxis moved faster and faster with every wing beat, until we were finally above the clouds. Then we started to glide through the air, Abraxis occasionally flapping her wings.

As I looked down, the overwhelming feeling of being above the clouds made me smile, as I remember the day my mother had once said I too would fly, if I really put my mind to it.

I guess she had never known that I would have happened like did.

I wonder if my parents had ever known about dragons, or Abraxis for the matter. There were so many questions that I needed to be answered. So many answers that were in the hands of others, rather than myself.

You would think that I had known my parents, but as time passes, I keep wondering if what they had told me had told all they had known, or an edited version of what happened.

Surely they would have had secrets of their own. But for some reason, this very thought made discomfort arise within me.

I heard a steady wing-beat coming from my left. Turing, I saw Fang, yet again, watching me intently, as if he knew something about me that I didn't.

I gave him a questioning glance, but he just shook it off by giving me a slight smirk before looking straight ahead.

This was becoming more and more frustrating every day that I spent at the fortress. Fang seemed to know so much about me, or at least he acted like it, with his little wise guru moments every once in a while.

There was definitely something that he was keeping from me. Something big. But I kept reassuring myself with what he had said to me in the medical room when I had gotten hurt back at the fortress.

_We all had secrets, just some of them are revealed sooner, other later._

Looking back at Fang, I saw that he was looking straight ahead, with a large grin on his face. The rarity of the occasion, made my stomach flutter as I looked away, ignoring the feeling.

Looking ahead, I realised that we were quickly losing ground, coming closer and closer to the village.

Things that had once looked little toys, now became clearer and larger as we approached the village platform.

Dragons were lined up at either end of a large platform, their riders on their back, batons raised as Iggy landed on the platform.

Slowly, all the batons were raised into the air, as Iggy passed each dragon. As soon as he reached the end of the platform, all batons were lowered.

Next, Nudge landed on the platform and the men raised the batons half-way, bowing their heads as she passed each one of them. As she reached the end of the platform, Fang turned to me and gave a slight nod.

Sabre sped up and shot down towards the platform, abruptly slowing down right before he touched the platform.

Show-offs, I thought. As I watched as them walk down the platform, towards Iggy and Nudge, making me realise that I was last to land, and probably the most inexperienced dragon rider they had ever seen on the land.

_Do not doubt yourself. _Abraxis whispered in my mind.

Slightly smiling, I moved forward and gave Abraxis a little pat on her neck, signalling that I was ready.

_Lets give them something to look at._ Abraxis chuckled in my head, before dipping down at extreme speeds, without warning.

Barely keeping my balance on Abraxis's back, I smiled as she twirled in circles, slowing down slightly with each turn.

As we reached the platform, Abraxis suddenly flapped her wings, making us slowly drift onto the platform, as a leaf would slowly drifts to the ground.

Grinning, I laughed inwardly, as I saw Fang's shocked but amused expression. Abraxis, let out a small chuckle and touched down onto the platform. As soon as she landed, the men raised their batons above the heads and bowed.

Unused to the respect and attention, I felt a feeling of uneasiness pass over me as I looked around, scanning my surroundings.

There was tension in the atmosphere. The kind that was present be fore a large storm broke out.

_Relax Max, there is nothing to worry about at the moment. Just enjoy the attention and remember to smile and nod. _Abraxis added the last part with a bit of an amused tone.

Smirking, I looked straight ahead and nodded my head at each soldier as I passed, amused at the weird looks they gave me, making me and Abraxis stifle small laughter.

Smiling even wider, as I reached the end of the platform, I noticed that Iggy, Nudge and Fang were all looking at me with amused expressions, also clearly hiding laughter as they looked at me getting closer.

As if emphasising our point, Abraxis lifted her head high in the air and growled, as the dragons on either sides of lowered their heads, making me almost explode with laughter.

As soon as I reached the end of the platform, all three dragons that had been waiting for me turned around, their riders laughing as soon as we turned our backs to the guards.

"Who would have known that you could make such an entrance. You never struck me as the attention seeker." Iggy commented, sarcasm dripping off his every word as he put on a straight face and looked ahead.

Looking around, I saw that we had reached a large building, made of a similar limestone to the fortress. In front of me, Fang came to an abrupt stop, getting off Sabre as the rest of us followed suite.

I gave Abraxis a little pat before walking a little faster than normal, in order to catch up with Fang. As soon as I reached him, I slowed down to his pace, as he gave me a funny but amused look.

Raising my eyebrow, I questioned his gesture, only to see him turn and looked straight ahead, the smirk not leaving his face.

Frustrated, I decided to ignore him, and looked ahead at my surroundings.

We were currently walking in a large meadow, about a hundred metres away from the actual building we seemed to be heading towards.

There were bright yellow flowers littered along the edges. The large limestone structure itself, was surrounded by multiple coloured flowers. Many of them looked like roses or tulips, as we came closer and closer to the building.

A sudden scent of roses filled my nose as I inhaled the fresh country air. I could definitely get used to this. I had only rarely seen such structures.

But for some reason, I was seeing a lot of things that I had never seen before these days.

Soon, I realised that Fang was no longer walking beside me, making me panic and look around.

As I turned around, I saw him standing a short distance behind, talking to someone that looked increasingly like a general or someone from a high rank.

As Fang caught my, I saw a small smirk spread across his face.

Slowly, I realised what I must have done. I really needed to be observant of my surroundings and not dose of every few minutes.

Walking back towards Fang, I stopped right beside him, receiving a weird look from the General-person who was speaking to him. Ignoring him, I studied his profile.

He was a middle-aged man, with greying hair, and a small bold patch at the start of his forehead and bright blue eyes. His hair seemed to be a sandy blonde in colour, cut short, just above his ears.

He had a neutral look on his face as he talked to Fang, occasionally glancing at me in an unsure way.

Tuning into the conversation, I realised that they were talking about some sort of training program.

"The kids are all trained according to your criteria Fang. I really don't understand, the fuss." the man said, as Fang looked at him as if he was crazy.

"Palace staff and personnel are at risk, due to the pure security on the right wing of the Fortress. The forest seems to be ignored as a focal point for our security operation, when it is the only place where most of our casualties and injuries occur. I need a strong group of boys. Ones that will be up for training to there limit. I have organised some training for them at the palace."

With that the man seemed to let out a sigh and nod, as if he had given up arguing.

"Don't think that I do not trust your training Jeb. Trust me, you are my most trusted man, but I need these boys to be given some certain skills."

The conversation ended there. Jeb turned around and started walking towards the large building. That name seemed to be so familiar. I just couldn't place a finger on it.

My brain screamed in recognition, but for some reason I could not remember where I had last heard it.

A minute passed and Fang started walking again, with me by his side.

"You know, the oldest crown-prince is supposed to lead a group, with the group members at least two feet behind him. And, when the prince stops walking, so does the rest of the group." Fang stated in an amused tone.

Looking down, I had no idea what to say. Glancing back, I realised that Iggy and Nudge were indeed two feet behind him, talking amongst themselves.

Focusing back ahead, I avoided Fangs gaze and slowed down, trying to fall behind with Iggy and Nudge as subtly as I could.

As soon as I slowed down, Fangs arm sot out, grabbing my wrist and pulling me forward. Looking up, I gave him a confused look.

"Well, you don't need to walk back now. It's not like you are afraid to be different." He commented.

For some reason I got the feeling he was talking about my previous display of entertainment on Abraxis.

Looking up, I gave him a grin.

"Do not underestimate my love-ability. I am indeed a very love-able and under-credited person. My awesomeness can become blinding." I commented with a smirk.

Fang rolled his eyes and chucked, before turning to face the building we had just reached.

As soon as we walked up the steps that lead to the large gates that lead inside, opened wide, a gust of warm wind hitting my face.

Inside, the walls were covered in shields and large portraits of different men, each wearing a different sort of uniform.

On the far end of the large room we had entered, was a wall-sized banner with the royal emblem on it and in bright blue words at the bottom it said, Royal Training Academy. Next to the banner were another set of large doors, similar to the ones we had entered through.

As I watched, the doors opened, revealing a long line of guards, walking into the room in a single file, before forming a horizontal line in front of Fang and I.

Each boy saluted Fang as he nodded at each of them. The last boy in line seemed to catch my attention.

He had dark brown hair that flopped over his eyes, and reached just passed his ears. He had large dark brown eyes, and an angular jawline. His slim lips were in a straight line, as if her were holding something in. He seemed to be younger than all the rest of the guards.

Catching me looking at him, he looked straight back at me before looking down with a confused look on his face.

Looking away, I noticed that Fang had started to inspect the guards, walking in front of them and asking them questions, as they answered in short one or two word sentences.

Watching, I realised the respect the boys held for Fang, looking at him admirably as he passed them. Walking towards Fang, I joined him as he asked the boys whatever he asking them.

I really wanted to know the test the boys had to pass in order to make it to the royal guard. As I fell into step with Fang, I received amused smirk from him, before he continued to question the boys.

We had reached the end of the line, now standing before the boy that I had been staring at earlier. Something about him seemed to familiar, but like Jeb, I couldn't quite place what it was.

"Why have you decided to apply to join the royal guard? What does it mean to you?" Fang asked the boy, like he had asked all the others before him.

"I was orphaned at birth, sir. I have grown up on the streets of different kingdoms, as I travelled in order to find out what had occurred to my parents. Off coarse no one took any notice of a lonely street boy, so I passed my time with minimal difficulty."

Pausing, the boy looked up at Fang, as if asking for his permission to continue. Fang slightly nodded, encouraging him to continue.

"Two years ago, I reached this village, in search of my lost sister. Everyone that I had consulted about my family, had said little, but they had said that she was still alive. So, I had come here, because I had been pointed in this direction by a man I had met in the woods. He seemed to know me, but would not say much as to where he had acquired the knowledge regarding my family, or if he had known them personally." Pausing, the boy took in a small breath, before continuing.

"As, I had been making my way around town, I had gotten into an intense fight with the sons of the towns noblemen. The boys father had asked me for who I belonged to, but I did not know how to answer. Master Jeb had saved me that fay, claiming that I was one of the new arrivals at the Royal Training Academy. I had been let off the hook, but had been told by Jeb, that I would need to train at the academy and serve the Royal family for a certain amount of time before I was allowed to go again, as a punishment for involving myself in the fight. Ever since then I have training for this opportunity, in order to gain my freedom again." The boy finished, looking down at his hands before looking straight up at me.

"I appreciate your honesty young man." Fang said in a sincere tone.

"What's your name?" I asked without thinking.

As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt like face-palming myself for my loss of good judgement of the situation, for the second time today. Looking to my left, I saw that Fang was grinning as looked amused for what seemed like the hundredth time today.

"Ari, your highness" The boy said in a small voice.

"Please, don't call me your highness. Call me Max." I said to the boy, feeling awkward to referred to as royalty.

"How old are you Ari?" I asked him.

I had already done so many things, might as well make the most of such a situation.

"I am currently fifteen years old, but I will be turning sixteen in a months time, yo-" He stopped himself, but not continuing, as if he was scared.

"Don't you have to be at least seventeen in order to join the Royal guard?" I asked Fang, turning to face him with a raised eyebrow.

Nodding, he turned to the boy.

"Before you say anything, I apologise for this interruption your majesty, but I really do think that I am worthy of this position. I have trained for a very long time, and I deserve this position as much as anyone in this room." Ari spoke with determination.

If Fang didn't give him a chance, I would personally have to see that he would be dealt with properly.

Something about him seemed to keep nagging me to make sure he was taken care of. Looking at Fang I watched as he assessed the situation.

When he turned to me, he seemed to see what I was thinking, he had been doing that a lot lately.

Anyway, back to the point, he looked up at Ari and then back at me, as if he was trying to figure something out.

Looking back, I realised that Nudge and Iggy were no longer with us. Who knew what they were up to. But again, that was beside the point.

Fang gave me a weird look as I turned back around, before turning to Ari and nodding his head. The look of joy that appeared on Ari's face, was one of pure joy and excitement.

"Thank you, your highness, I will never let you down." He promised as he grinned form ear to ear.

Then he turned to me and silently nodded his thanks, before saluting and moving a step back, like the others that Fang had chosen.

The remaining boys, slowly formed a single file and slowly walked out of the room. I felt a little sad as I watched the boys leave.

I knew what it had been like to feel like you weren't good enough. I had felt it first-hand at the Forte. As soon as they had all left the room, Fang turned to the rest of the boys in the room.

"Do not for a second, think that things will get better after today. They will be the opposite. You will train harder than ever and work longer hours. Becoming a member of the Royal Guard holds responsibility and duty. The many great men that have served the Royal family before, have ll lived up to our standards, I hope that you can all follow their footsteps and make the Royal Guard better than it already is."

With that, Fang nodded and the boys all nodded and walked out of the room, the same way they had come in.

Watching them leave, I caught Ari's eye, smiling as he exited the room. I seemed to have developed a soft spot for him.

As soon as they were all gone, Fang turned to me and grinned. He was giving me the same look he had given me when I had been angry in the woods,walking the wrong way, because I had no idea what I had been doing.

The memory played in my mind, fresh and clear. It was hard to believe that I had only been at the Fortress for just two weeks.

It seemed like I had known these people for all my life, the way I got along with them.

As I was daydreaming, I did not notice Nudge and Iggy enter the room, as they both came and stood beside me. Nudge was the first to speak, making me break trance.

"We should really head to town and go meet some people, Gazzy should be here any minute now, and then we can all go visit Angel." Slightly confused as to what she was talking about, I gave her a questioning, only to be returned with a shrug of her shoulders and a large grin on her face.

As I was about to speak, a large door to one side of the room opened, to reveal Gazzy walking into the room, with a huge grin on his face.

"Great choices with the boys Fang, their physical needs seem to be adequate, but like we though, they will need some training still." He commented, as he approached us.

As he reached us, he nodded his head towards me and both Gazzy and Fang turned to look at Iggy.

"They seem to have extensive, intellectual ability. I believe that this bunch will be the best we have chosen in a while. Jeb has done well with them." He finished.

As if they had made a silent agreement, all three of them nodded their heads and then turned to look at me. Gazzy was first to speak.

"Interesting display of weirdness Max. Great job. I think you will like Angel." He grinned, before chuckling no doubt at my awesome uniqueness.

Smirking I grinned at all of them.

"This place needs a bit more of me. It is based too much on the rules and customs from thousands of years ago. We need to bend and break some rules, make things interesting." I said, in all seriousness.

But I could not hold back my laughter at the bewildered look that Nudge had given me.

Soon we were all laughing, well except Fang, he seemed to be chuckling in his weird and mysterious way.

Tears, made their way down my face, as I held onto my sides, trying to stop the constant laughter that bubbled out of me. When our laughter finally subsided, Fang gave a serious look.

"In all seriousness Max, we need to get started on your combat and educational training. Though I highly doubt you will need much, with your quick mind." He added the last part so softly that I would have had to really listen hard, if I hadn't been standing next to him.

A look passed between us, as my face heated up, ever so slightly. I was not used to such complements, especially from Fang.

He either always laughed at me, or comment on my faults. But there were those rare occasions where he would actually look at me and say something sweet, making it harder and harder to hate him, as time passed.

"Okay, kids. We need to get moving if we are going to make it to the village in time to meet Angel and take Max on a tour." Iggy broke the silence, as if he had somehow sensed the uneasy atmosphere that had been building between Fang and I.

Nodding vigorously, Nudge agreed in a hurry, followed by Gazzy and then me and Fang.

We made our way outside, towards the dragons that we had left behind, in the front lawn. Abraxis greeted me with a small rubble, moving her head against my back.

_You are quite the rule-breaker aren't you Max. the most amusing thing being that you do it without knowledge that you are doing something wrong. _Abraxis, chucked in my head, as she lifted herself off the ground. Her steady wing beat had becoming so normal to me.

Line****

As we flew over the large building, making our way towards the town behind it, Nudge decided to fly in sync with me. The boys had flown a little ahead, discussing matter regarding the the Fortress security.

"You know he likes you." Nudge said, as my eyes lingered on Fangs back for a moment, making him turn around and give me a sort of half-smile.

Turning to Nudge, I gave her a small smile.

"Off coarse he likes me Nudge. Just the same way he likes you and all the others." I said, not understanding what she had meant.

But she only grinned and shook her head, muttering something along the lines of 'yeah sure.'

Choosing to ignore her comment, I smile and look at the scenery that was passing below me.

The lush green fields made me smile, reminding me of the ones that I vaguely remembered from back home.

When mother and father had actually been alive. The thought of my parents, sent a pang of unease coursing through my body.

The more time I spent at the Fortress, the less I thought of them. It was if I had started to forget who they were, almost barely remembering why I missed them in the first place.

The whole in my heart had slowly started to heal, making me happier and happier as time passed. Shaking my, I cleared my thoughts and continued to admire the beautiful meadows that we were flying over.

Without warning, Abraxis dipped towards the ground at top speed, stopping abruptly and turned upwards as we reached the ground, making my hands slowly pass through the beautiful shrubs that grew on in the moist earth.

Abraxis flew low enough for me to pick an apple of a tree, as we passed it, before making her way back up towards the others high up in the air.

As I reached Nudge, she grinned at my apple, watching me munch away as if nothing had happened. The others had turned around too, giving me weird looks.

"Well, you could had brought us some apples too you know Max." Iggy commented, as he flew passed me and grabbed the apple from my hand, biting of it and grinning.

Glaring at him, I moved Abraxis forward really fast, hitting hard behind his head as we dove down again. As I passed Iggy, he howled in pain and shouted after me, promising that it wasn't over.

As we dove down towards the apple tree, I saw that Sabre and Fang had joined us, grinning at Fang as he dove down beside me.

As soon as we got close enough to the tree, both dragons beat their wings, slowing down dramatically as I pulled some more apples off the tree.

I cussed loudly, as a splinter went through my skin, making me plead a little.

Fang looked at me, but I shrugged it off as Abraxis made her way back towards the others.

As soon as we reached them, I through an apple at each of them, including Fang, who had started to fly beside me.

Looking down at my thumb, I saw that it had stopped bleeding, but the splinter still remained in my skin. Pulling at it, I tried to take it out, but I think this would need tweezers.

Ignoring it, I bit at my apple as we reached the outskirts of town. The small cottages that belonged to the towns-people came into into view.

Children were playing outside their houses, laughing and shouting, carefree, like I had once been. I remembered all the times father and I played hide and seek in trees behind the castle.

I could vaguely remembered a little boy, running around with us, but he had disappeared after a while. For some reason an image of Ari ran through my head.

Slightly confused at my reaction to the memory, I shook my head as everyone prepared to land in front of a large cottage at the edge of town, where a blonde girl stood outside.

As the others landed the girl ran forward and hugged Gazzy, before moving on to Nudge and Iggy. Fang was next to land, the girl jumping onto him and engulfing him in a big hug. He hugged her back and spun her around, before setting her back onto the ground.

As I watched from above, I saw as they all looked so happy with each other. As I debated when I should land, Abraxis started circling in the air, moving above the cottage as the others said their hellos.

Abraxis, zoomed forward and above the rest of the town, people looking up as we passed. As he circled the rest of the town and reached the cottage, the others were still hugging.

I could see Nudge rambling on and on about something. Knowing her, I could only guess that it was about some sort of fashion related topic.

Feeling slightly alien in the situation, I scanned the horizon, spotting a large tree about a hundred meters away. As Abraxis read my mind, she moved forward fast and flew towards the tree, slowly landing at its foot.

As we landed, I jumped off Abraxis and climbed high up in the tree. When I finally reached the top of the tree, Abraxis slowly flew up so she was level with me, her wings beating her wings.

I'm not sure how long I stayed in the tree, but when I opened my eyes again, the sun was really high up in the sky, meaning that it was mid-day or some-time close to it.

Looking around, I saw Abraxis in the horizon, flying around. As soon as she realised that I had woken up, she flew towards me and landed at the foot of the tree.

Climbing down from my place in the tree, I sat back on Abraxis as she flew towards the cottage where I had last seen all the others.

When I reached the cottage, I saw Sabre sitting out front, his eyes closed. As soon as we approached he opened hid eyes nodded his head at me.

_You have been a long time Max. but I understand you hesitation._ He sated in my head.

As Abraxis landed, I got off and walked towards Sabre, joining him on the ground, laying my head against his muscular leg.

Abraxis flew off, as soon as I got off and made her way towards wherever she had been before.

_You know Max, you could go inside. I bet they will be glad to see you._ Sabre told me.

Knowing that he was a dragon and that they were almost always right, I still chose not to go inside.

As I sat with him and watched Abraxis flying in the horizon, I did not notice Fang walk out and join me.

"Well, at least you landed." He commented, making me jump up in fright, as I saw he was right next to me.

Looking up at him, I watched as he sat down beside me, leaning against Sabre.

"I get how you feel out of the whole situation, and the fact that we forgot to land with you rather than before you didn't exactly help." He said, looking at me apologetically.

I nodded, telling him that it was fine.

"I guess I don't really feel like I am part of the Family. You guys seemed so happy together and I didn't want to be the third-wheel, if you know what I mean?" I asked.

He just simply nodded and got up, before stretching his hand out, gesturing me to grab it and get up.

Assessing the situation, I finally took his outstretched hand, a electricity flowed through me, making me get up abruptly and quickly drop his hand.

He seemed to notice but did not acknowledge it. Grabbing me by the arm, he lead me inside the cottage. His hand was warm against my skin, making me lose track of what was going.

When I regained my composure, I realised that everyone was now looking at me. Fang's Hand was still on my arm, as he stood there and got ready to introduce me.

"Ohhh, you must be the famous Maximum Ride." The blonde girl from earlier commented, beating Fang at the introduction.

"I'm Angel, Gazzy's little sister. I have heard a lot about you Max. I have looking forward to meeting you fro longer than you can imagine." She said cheerily.

The way she looked up to me, made me immediately like her. Her cute smile and cheery smile was something I could get used to. Her blonde locks bobbed up and down as he shook her head happily.

I smiled down at her and she attacked me in a warm hug. My instant reaction was to become stiff, but slowly I wound my arms around her and smiled.

Everyone else in the room seemed to be grinning as they watched us happily. Fang caught my eye, and grinned that rare grin he rarely ever had on his face, making me smile even wider.

As soon as angel let go, I sat down beside her and smiled again at my surroundings.

I think this was as good as it could get.

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**Okay, so what do you think?  
Was it any good. **

**Also, i realised that i lost some readers before. i would like to apologise to those who gave up on me. I am really sorry. :(  
**

**Another thing, we are not a lot behind 200 Reviews. Would i be asking too much of you guys, if you could get to 200. I know i don't deserve it, but it has been a while since we all achieve a great milestone together. :) **

**Now, to thank all the wonderful people that reviewed and didn't give up on me in a time of hardship in my life. **

**- Neon shoelaces and Fax- thank you. i really appreciate that you like this. i hope you don't hate me for not updating this long. :)**

**- HeAt-StRoKe- thanks, as always. love you.**

**- Gummy Bear- OMG, i am so sorry for not updating. Serious. i hope you haven't given up on me. i hope you liked this. and as for the town, it will be there next chapter, along with some action... there are even more secrets now, to be revealed next chapter. lots of love from Aus.**

**- oOo KitKat oOo- soooo sorry for the late update. you must hate me. i feel really bad letting down one of my most faithful reviewers. i hope this made up for it. love from Aus.**

**- charlayyyyyyyyy- thanks parwa.**

**- ChrisyLikesToEatMangoes- hahaha, i can understand why you didn't like Vegemite. it's not a very common food among the new generation :D. we prefer McDonald's and all the fast food junk. also, i agree, it is beautiful place. i love it here. i hope your dream comes true. also, sorry for the long wait for the update. i hope this was good. love from Australia.**

**- Fly On Maximum Taylor Ride- thanks heaps. i hope you had a good rest that day :D. sorry for the late update. i hope this was better. :D**

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**- im bored- well, i don't think this was good then. really sorryyyyyyyyyyy. i hope you don't mind, but i have a lot of work and school things to juggle. i try my best to update as much as possible. i hope you liked this. :D**

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**- XxDDxX- thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much. i really appreciate how much you love this. really sorry for the late update. i hope this was good though. sorry again fro the late update. thanks for the review. love from Australia.**

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* * *

**okay, so those were the amazing reviewers for the last chapter. **

**i hope you guys liked this chapter.**

**also, i hope we can all make above 200 this time. or even 210. who knows.**

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**Adios Amegos, **

**Beeni. **


	18. Chapter 18

**Okay, so i have taken a long time to update...again. i am really sorry, but i really am trying. My holidays started a few days ago and that was only time i got to write in a long time. I hope you guys understand...**

**Anyway, on with the story...**

* * *

As I looked around the room, I noticed everyone was laughing happily. Almost too good to be true.

The last time something even remotely this good happened, everything came crashing down the next day. So I think it was only natural for me to be tense throughout the evening.

We had been at Angel's pace for the whole day, talking and getting to know each other. Everyone was currently seated around the dining table, waiting for the cook, Marie, to serve the food.

I was pretty hungry if I say so myself. My stomach had been making weird noises for a while now. I think Fang had heard it a few times, but I had silenced him with a glare.

As I looked up from the table before me, Marie walked into the room and started to serve something that smelled heavenly. As soon as the smell entered my system my stomach gave away a natural reaction, this time making everyone at the table turn to look at me.

"I think we all know what that means." I said, trying not to laugh, but failing miserably as everyone at the table burst into laughter.

I felt a small blush creep up on my face as Fang smirked at me in his special way.

Looking away, I concentrated on the plate that was placed before me, quickly digging in as soon as it hit the table. This made everyone laugh even more as they watched me inhale my food.

As soon as I finished my first plate, I looked up at everyone to see them looking at me with open mouths, none of them having touched their food yet.

Smiling sheepishly, I looked at Marie as she got me a second back to my stunned friends, I sighed.

"What? Haven't seen anyone eat before? Close your mouths, you might catch flies."

That got them looking down again as they all started to eat their food.

As soon as everyone was done with their food, and I was done with my third serving, we got up from the table and made our way towards the living room.

Although Angel's house was much smaller and cosier than the fortress, it still had way to many rooms. Sitting myself down on the couch, stared at her collection of books, lined up neatly in a large bronze bookshelf that covered a whole wall.

As I looked at all the names of the books, I had longing to read them. To know all the tales and stories embedded within the pages by some of the most creative minds of the time.

But there was one slight problem. I did not know how to read properly.

As soon as I had been kidnapped, my education had been taken away from me, as I became a mere serving girl.

Looking to my side, I saw Fang had joined me, also looking up at the books in a sense of awe.

"You need to start your education. I have talked to some of the scholars at the fortress and they have agreed to help you regain your educational skills." He paused for a second.

He seemed to be talking a lot these days. I mean he was silent mostly, but he seemed to never be quiet whenever he talked to me. Oh well, I was probably being paranoid.

As if sensing what I was thinking, he smirked but continued to say whatever he was saying before.

"I don't think that you will need a lot of education, seeing as you learned the basics as a child, but we will need to refresh your memory in basic arithmetic, language and some others. My mother and Nudge suggested that you also learn some basic stitching and the like."

As he finished he seemed to be staring at me, as if he were waiting for me to react and he could see how I felt about all this.

Well, to be honest, I had no idea what I really felt. I mean, I had known all along that I would be restarting my education soon, so I guess it was no big surprise.

"Okay." was all I said as I looked back at the books, a small smirk on my face as I saw his face at my one word response.

But he seemed to hide his surprise and quickly looked at me with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"Okay, you two love birds, we need to either get going or send a message to the fortress that we will be staying with Angel." We were interrupted rudely by a smirking Iggy as he walked up to us and placed a hand on either one of our shoulders.

Fang just nodded and turned to both Nudge and Gazzy as if asking what they thought. Nudge seemed to make a really cute puppyish face and looked at Fang as he tried to refuse her pleading eyes.

"Okay fine Nudge, we will stay but I need to send a message back to my parent to let them know what's going on. Angel can go back to the fortress with us tomorrow." With that he left the room, walking outside to tell one of the guards deliver the message to the king or queen.

As I watched him through the window, someone poked my side making me jump up in surprise.

"You need to make more noise when you're moving around Angel." I said in a playful tone. She just laughed as she poked my side once again.

"You like him don't you?" She asked, totally catching me by surprise.

I looked back at her in confusion as I tried to figure out who and what she had meant.

"Oh don't look at me like that Max. You know exactly who I am talking about." She said in a playful tone.

As I gave her another look of genuine confusion, she sighed and shook her head.

"Oh well, you'll see." she said before walking back to join Marie in the kitchen as they discussed tomorrows menu for breakfast.

* * *

That night, I tried to sleep, but for some reason what Angel had said to me earlier just kept popping up in my head. I tried to concentrate on the beautiful stars I could see in the dark sky through the rooms large window.

As I watched them, a picture of Fang seemed to make its way into my head, making me smile as I compared his dark personality to the dark night sky.

As soon as I realised what I had just been thinking of, I shook my head and turned around to face the wall, trying to keep the image out of my head. But for some reason I just couldn't seem to get to sleep.

As lay on the bed on my back I started to hum a tune that my mum would sing to me when I had a bad dream and couldn't sleep. Tears welled up in my eyes as I remembered my mother.

It was nights like these that I remembered her the most. Even after all the secrets my parents seemed to have kept from me, I just couldn't hate them.

Getting out of bed I headed towards the large window and looked out at the star that my parents had so kindly named me after.

After a while of staring out the window, I started to feel cold and made my way back towards my bed, quickly falling asleep.

* * *

As I woke up the next morning, I felt really tired seeing as I had barely gotten a wink of sleep last night.

Angel had woken us up really early as she had said that we would be going into town before we we went back to the fortress in the evening.

At first I had groaned and moaned not wanting to move from my warm place in bead. I mean, who would wake up at this hour when they could enjoy some more beautiful sleep.

As I felt myself drift back to sleep, I heard someone enter the room for what seem like the umpteenth time this morning.

"Are you going to get up or will we have to use drastic measures before you realise that it would have been easier if you have listen in the beginning?" Fang asked as he came and stood by my bedside.

I curled up in my covers even more.

"Okay fine, don't say I didn't warn you." He said.

Without warning, two very strong arms grabbed me and swung me around so that I was tossed over Fang's shoulders. A delightful smell filled me as my nose brushed passed his hair.

But as soon as my head was over his shoulders, I realised this was in fact Fang, and shook my head to get rid of the horrid thoughts. I small blush crept up on my cheeks as thought of the exact meaning of my thoughts even though I knew I wanted to stay so close to him forever.

But I shook my head as I cleared my head of such profound thoughts yet again.

I mean, this was Fang. The guy I had hated with a passion, and still didn't completely like. He was supposed to be my enemy, but for some reason, it had become harder and harder to believe this as more and more time passed.

As I had been stuck in dreamland, I did not realise that that I had been placed on a dining table chair and was staring into space as everyone at the table stared at me with weird looks on their faces. They all seemed to have one mutual emotion on their faces: amusement.

Recovering from my thinking state, I raised an eyebrow at them as they finally started to move around the room once again. As soon as the atmosphere had somewhat cooled down, I made my way to the bathroom to freshen up. Breakfast was served in a few minutes, so I had to hurry.

When I got back to the table, the smell of all sorts of jams and honey entered my nose making me drool inwardly. Taking my seat at the table I raised an eyebrow at everyone as Marie placed a plate of food before me.

I waited for them to stop staring, but they chose to continue looking at me. So I did the natural thing and just shrugged it off before inhaling my food like I had last night. As soon as I was done, I wiped my hand with a serviette which had been placed in front of me and leaned back in my chair as the others slowly ate their food.

After a while the silence became unbearable and I coughed a few times, looking around as everyone looked at me with questioning looks. Sighing I started to hum a tune that I remembered from way back before I had been captured.

Slightly nodding my head I watched as everyone finished their food and just looked at me in awe. Feeling uncomfortable under their gazes I looked away and stopped humming.

"No don't stop Max, that was beautiful." Nudge said as she smiled at me from across the table.

Not really in the mood to continue any more, I got up from my seat and made my way to the sink to one side of the dining room to wash my hands. As if everyone had been shaken from their daze, they all got up and followed suite.

The awkwardness of the morning had not completely died by the time we had assembled outside Angel's house, waiting for the dragons.

"Okay, so I say that because we all like different things in town, we take turns at showing Max around. I'm guessing that we all have different things to do while we are in town. So we will rotate every hour." Fang suggested as everyone nodded in agreement.

As his eyes made their way to Nudge and Angel he smiled.

"I'm guessing you both will be shopping together, so you can have her for two hours before you swap with someone. Every time we have to swap we meat at the fountain at the centre of town."

Everyone nodded but Iggy moved forward with a smile.

"Me and Gazzy have some things we need to do back at the training academy, so you can use up our time Fang." He said with a grin.

As if there had been an unspoken conversation, Fang moved forward and playfully punched Iggy, making him wince none the less.

Slightly confused as to what had happened, I turned to Angel but she just grinned and shrugged. This wasn't the first time I had no idea what is going on in my surroundings. I mean, these people have so many hidden jokes and secrets, it scares me sometimes.

People seemed to know way more than they chose to let on. So this left me in a very awkward position a lot of the time. As I looked around, I saw that the others were now looking up at the horizon where I could see Abraxis and Sabre make their way towards us followed by a few more Dragons.

I recognised two that I had seen with Nudge and Iggy yesterday. Two other dragons trailed behind them. One seemed to be a bright gold in colour, no doubt for Angel and the other was a bright red which I assumed was for Gazzy.

As they came closer and closer, they formed a horizontal line in the sky before landing next to their specified riders. As Abraxis landed next to me with a steady wing beat, I smiled and patted her belly.

Happy that we were together again she let out a small playful growl as I got on her back. Laughing, I shook my head. _I am glad to see you happy and smiling, though I sense the tension in the atmosphere. _

She definitely didn't take her time in deciding to get to the point. I mentally informed her of all the awkwardness that had been in the room since we had woken up in the room.

All she did was laugh and say something about young love. Now, I have no idea what she meant, but chose to ignore it as she leapt of the ground, making me concentrate on keeping my balance on her back.

As soon as we reached town, I got of Abraxis and she flew off without a second glance to get some food no doubt.

Everyone else approached me, I realised we were standing in a large circle with a fountain at the very centre.

As I looked around, I saw that the whole town had come to a halt and everyone was now facing us, stopping whatever they had been doing.

The circle lead to many different streets, all containing different stalls and stores. There seemed to be a street for everything. There was a whole row for clothing. Who could ever need so many shops for clothes?

It was the first time I was in a bazaar.

As everyone stared, I started to feel uncomfortable under their gazes, wanting to hide behind someone as so many eyes were on me all at one.

I had a sudden sense of danger, as I realised that anything could go wrong in such circumstances. As if sensing my unease, Fang placed a hand on my shoulder from where he was standing beside me and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Looking up at him, he gave me a reassuring look before tuning back to the towns-people to address them. It was only then that I had felt the goosebumps on my arm where Fang had touched.

Confused yet again, I looked ahead as the people formed one massive circle outside the town centre, making sure not to step inside. I walked up to stand beside Fang and he gave me a slight nod and a smirk before turning back to the people.

"We have come to ease the gossip that has been travelling the town like wildfire. Yes, there is a new guest at the fortress, and she indeed has just arrived her for the first time a few weeks. Yes, she is also a dragon rider and yes she rides the great Abraxis. Now, I hope have cleared all your misconceptions. It would be appreciated if you would keep your opinions to yourselves. What some of you have said is an unacceptable way to speak of a royal." He finished, surprising me with his last statement.

As he started to walk around the circle, he grabbed my hand and gestured for me to follow, not letting go of my hand.

I payed more attention to mini electrical jolts that I felt every few seconds as he held my hand, rather than the towns-people. As if realising what he was doing, Fang quickly let go of my hand and looked straight ahead, making me miss the warm feeling of his hand in mine.

Shaking my head, I looked at the towns-people which looked back at me with curious gazes. People looked at me as if I was something foreign to them,that they had never seen before.

Some stared as if I had grown a pair of wings, but I knew as well as they did somewhere in their heads that I was a normal person like so many of them.

As I looked to the back of he crowd, I spotted a girl standing with five guards, guarding her with stern looks on their faces. Her fiery red hair stood out from the crowd. I assumed that she was one of the many noblemen's daughter.

Looking around, I realised that there were indeed other men and children that stood guarded at the back of the crowd. For some reason, I didn't seem to like the girl as soon as I lay eyes on her.

Sensing my gaze, the girl looked at me and gave me a glare. The only problem being that, her glare wasn't even remotely as scary as what I was used to. Fang seemed to sense my slow pace and followed my gaze towards the redhead. As soon as he saw what I was looking at he smirked and grabbed my hand once again, leading me on.

As we reached the end of the circle, a path had formed for us to walk through the people that now crowded the town square.

Guards lined the streets and people were being ushered off into their homes or out of the bazaar. In about twenty minutes, the town square was almost empty, leaving only those who had permission to remain with the royals and the guards.

As I scanned the faces of those who had stayed, my eye caught a flash of red hair heading towards where Fang and I were standing. About a minute later the girl I had seen earlier was standing in front of Fang with a huge grin on her face.

"Ah, Fang. It has been a long time since we last talked, has it not?" She asked in a flirtatious tone.

For some reason, this didn't seem to sink well with me, as I felt anger rise within me. Beside me, Fang just shrugged and looked ahead, but not before flashing her a smirk.

Giggling, the girl placed a hand on Fang's arm saying something about missing him in the time had had been gone. I had zoned out of she had been saying, only paying attention to the fact that she was flirting with Fang and he seemed to be responding in his own weird and twisted way.

As if she had only just noticed me, the girl turned to me with a fake smile.

"I don't believe we've met, I am Lissa Bradshaw, one of Fang's friends." she said, extending her hand out for me to shake.

I only nodded and decided not to shake her hand, making her awkwardly pull it back by her side. I could tell she didn't want me to be hear as I much as I didn't want her, but I was not leaving any time soon. Turning back to Fang, the girl started talking to him again.

"Did you miss me Fang?" she asked in a creepy tone.

Fang only smirked back, but it was enough for her to continue. As she rambled on about one thing or the other, more and more anger started to build up within me. For some reason, the thought of Fang paying _attention _ to another girl seemed to spark a flame within me.

Before I knew what I was doing, I grabbed Fang's hand and intertwined our fingers, before heading towards the fountain where he others waited.

Behind me, stood a shocked Lissa as she glared at me, with a red face. Smirking, I turned back towards the others and stopped before them.

They all looked at me with weird but amused expressions as they registered what had happened. After a few moment of staring at my face, their gazes moved down to my still intertwined hand with Fang, and Angel smiled.

Feeling my cheeks heat up, I pulled my hand free of Fang's grip, but not before noticing the weird look on his face. He looked down at his hand with such intensity, that it made me want to run and hide in a corner.

After recovering from the initial shock of the incident, everyone looked around at each others faces awkwardly, for what seemed like the tenth time today.

"Well, I think that we should get going. Nudge and Angel, you get Max first. Remember to bring her back here around noon." Fang stated.

With that he gave a little nod and walked off, Iggy and Gazzy at his heel.

As soon as they left, both Nudge and Angel turned to me with huge grins on their faces. As I tried to run and hide, they both grabbed my arms and pulled me back as they began to interrogate me.

"What was that Max?" Angel asked in a devilish tone.

I gulped and looked away, not knowing how to answer. I had no idea what had possessed me to do such a thing. All I knew was that I couldn't stand the idea of Fang talking to another girl like that. Even if he didn't talk, he responded. That was enough to send alarm bells ringing.

"Max are you there?" I broke away from my trance as Nudge waved her hand in my face, trying to get my attention.

"What was what about?" I asked, trying to play clueless. I knew for a fact that it wouldn't work, but I guess it was worth a try right?

Both Nudge and Angel stared at me with angry glares, knowing too well that I was trying to avoid the subject. But for some reason they both just looked at each other after a minute and smiled, before moving from the awkward position that they had put me in.

"Now, we only have two hours to go around town and get you the perfect outfit for the spring dance. So we are not waiting any more time on you denial just yet Max. Just wait until we get home, this conversation is far from over."

With that, Nudge turned around while Angel grabbed my hand and they both dragged me into a too colourful looking dress shop.

The strong smell of perfume filled me as we looked around the shop for dresses. Well, more like Nudge and Angel looked around and I just sat there praying for the torture to be over. I mean why couldn't we go to the fighting and armour store across from this one?

It seemed to have much better things. These girls will just never see the logic behind comfortable clothing. My eyes started to water from the strong perfume that was continuously being sprayed into the room.

The lady at the front of the shop seemed to think it was necessary to incapacitate customers with that disgusting smell. The scary thing was, that Nudge and Angel actually _liked_ the smell. Hmm, I wonder when this will be over.

But as soon as I thought that, I regretted it. Because a very exited looking Nudge ran up to me with a whole bunch of sparkly and different coloured dresses in her hands.

I think she saw the look of horror on my face, because she sighed and dragged me to the changing stalls at the far end of the store.

As soon as I stepped, she shoved the dresses in my hands and closed the curtain, as if expecting me to know how to put theses _things_ on. I mean, I was grateful that I had come from having nothing to having almost everything, but sometimes I missed the simplicity of my life before.

Sighing, I hung the dresses on a hook and grabbed the one on top. It was a red dress, very puffy and princess-y. For some reason I had a feeling, I wasn't going to like any of these.

As I tried on dress after dress and both Nudge and Angel gave me their _professional _opinions on what I was wearing, I was finally starting to get really tired. I mean, who knew that changing in and out of different dresses could take so much work.

As the pile of dresses became smaller, a certain dress caught my eye. Now, I know that I definitely had no eye for fashion or the like, but let me tell you, even I liked this one.

It was a simple black one-shoulder dress with simple folds at the centre. It had light beading along its single strap. As I wore the dress, I realised there was only one problem. It was hugging my body way too much for my liking.

Walking out of the changing stall, I almost jumped foot into the air as Nudge and Angel squealed, looking at me. I was about to tell them to be quiet and that they were attracting unwanted attention, but Nudge cut me off.

"Oh my god Max! That has to be the perfect dress. I mean it's like it was made for you and waiting for you to just come and try it on. It looks so good on you. It fits your form so well, and clings at all the right places. I knew this was a great dress as soon as I looked at it, but I had no idea It was this good. Oh my god everyone's eyes will be on you . I can't-"

She was cut of by a small cough from the store owner as Angel put a hand over her mouth, trying to get her to be quiet.

Nudge looked around with a guilty look on her face as everyone in the shop looked at her, some shaking their heads disapprovingly.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing at the situation, receiving more disapproving looks from people. All of us looked at each other, and we all burst out laughing together. I tried not to look too weird as I gasped for air, holding onto Angel.

As we tried to contain our laughter, we walked up to the lady at the front desk and Nudge placed the dress in front of her. The lady wrapped the dress in fancy paper and then placed it in a stripy box, before handing it to me.

Nudge informed the lady to charge the dress on the palaces spring budget, and the lady nodded with a smile.

"Is there any form of identification I can have, for the palaces charges?" the lady asked in a sweet tone.

She was probably middle-aged and had dirty blonde hair, very similar to my own locks. Her eyes were the colour of fire stones, almost amber in colour. As I looked at her women, a sense of familiarity washed over me, but I just couldn't place where or when I had known her.

As if sensing my gaze on her figure, the lady looked up from her wrapping and stared me in the eyes. There was just something so familiar about her that I could not place.

Something I felt I knew so well, but my mind just went blank each time I thought of. Shaking my head, I looked at Nudge as she grabbed he final box on the counter, making her way towards the shop door. As I followed, I couldn't get the ladies out of my mind.

I would have to do some research into the matter of my past as soon as the hype of the spring dance died down.

As I walked forward, I didn't see where I was going, still in a daze from the previous events and ran into someone. Apologising, I looked up to see it was in fact Ari. The boy I had seen that day at the royal training academy.

We started at each other for what seemed like hours, before he finally cleared his throat. Shaking my head, I took a good look at him and almost gasped as I saw the same eyes that I had seen inside the store.

Ari had the exact same eyes as the lady. In fact he had a lot of resemblance to the lady, but I didn't catch onto that at the time.

All I was concentrating on was the fact that I had gotten the same feeling when I had seen the lady as I had gotten when I had first seen Ari. For some reason though, I knew there was more the feeling than I realised.

"Sorry You- I mean Max. I didn't see you there." Ari apologised as I smiled and shook it off.

"Don't apologise Ari, you know as well as I do that it was my fault." I said with a smile. Hesitating for a moment, Ari laughed.

"Well, if you must say that. I think your clumsiness is well known in these parts of the land." he said smiling. Stifling laughter, I faked hurt and anger.

"Is that any way to speak to me boy?" I asked in a failing stern tone.

But for some reason that was enough, because Ari seemed to get a slightly nervous look on his face as he started to apologies.

I couldn't take it any longer, I burst out laughing for the second time in a public place. And once again, everyone turned to look at me. Ari seemed to catch on to what was going on and grinned slightly, before punching me lightly on the shoulder.

As I regained my composure, I stuck my tongue out at Ari.

"The look that you got on your face was priceless. I must say for a second, I thought you were going to pee yourself." At that, Ari laughed but stood tall.

"And why would I be so scared of you Max. I men, it was all part of the 'suck-up-to-the-royals' act, in order to gain a place in the royal guard." he stated. I looked at him weird.

"Sure, whatever pleases you Ari. But you and I both know that was not the really story." We both bickered on for a while longer.

For some reason Ari and I just seemed to click together. He seemed like the little brother I always wanted. But unfortunately, Nudge interrupted my moment of fun.

"Max, we need to get to the fountain, Fang will be waiting for you there. If we don't hurry, then he will be mad at me and Angel. You know how he can get in regards to matters regarding yo-" But she was cut of my Angel putting a hand over her mouth and giving her a look that said 'shut up'.

Well, they were definitely hiding something from me. That seemed to be happening too much lately. I needed to get to the bottom of this. As I waved goodbye to Ari, I walked towards the fountain.

I wonder what Fang had planned for me...

* * *

**Well, how was that? I hope it was good. I also made it a little long, but not as long as the last one...**

**Anyway, how is everyone? It's been a long time i have asked that. What's up? **

**Also i would like to thank the wonderful reviewers. We officially reached 209 reviews. YAY! Just one less than 210. But oh well! I love you alllllll!**

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**- Gummy Bear- hahaa, well, i have to say sorry, i kind of changed my plans on the stories direction for now... the secret has to wait a bit. sorry :(. also, thanks for the review, and the feedback. is it good now? you make me smile wach time i read your review. :D :D. thank you so much again. lots of love from Australia.**

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**Well, those were all the WONDERFUL people that reviewd the last chapter. Thank you all heaps.**

**i think this is the first time i am updating during the day (here in Aus.). i always update sometime at an ungodly hour. :D**

**well, i hope you liked...**

**Beeni. **

**P.S. sorry for any errors. :D**

**P.P.S. i'm hungry, i think i might go eat something...**


	19. Chapter 19

**Okay, so i feel really really really really bad for keeping you guys hanging for so long. The truth is, i started to write this chapter right after my last update. But, then i had major writers block and so, i thought i would leave it for a while. Then i was bombarded with a heap of school work and, i had no time on my hands for a very long time. **

**So that is my honest reason for not updating. i am sooooo sorry. i know for a fact that some of you are probably reallt mad at me, or annoyed, and you have a very good reason to be. i hope this will make up for it though. **

**Now, i have kept you people waiting for this for too long already. so here goes...**

* * *

Looking around the town square, I realised that there was no one in sight. Slightly confused, I turn around to see if Nudge and angel have left.

No one was in sight, the bazaars empty. Okay, there was definitely something going on. A small gust of wind pulls me from my thoughts. Looking up, I see Sabre descending.

As Sabre lands, Fang jumps off his back and makes his way towards me. As he reaches me, he stops in front me and slightly nods his head. Confused as to what was going on, I raise an eyebrow. In response, he just smirked and stood his ground.

"Okay, are you going to explain what the hell is going on Fang?" I asked, starting to get a little agitated by my lack of knowledge of the situation.

Fang's smirk grew wider, but he only nodded and grabbed my hand, heading towards one of the many gully-ways. As I looked around, I saw all sorts of stands, most of which contained armour or other battle material.

As we approached the end of the gully, Fang finally stopped in front of a stand containing different types of tunics and trouser.

"I sort of guessed that after having to spend so much time in a dress-house, that you would want to do some real shopping." Fang explained as he watched me, waiting for a reaction.

A small smile made it's way across my lips before I turned to Fang and frowned.

"But, I was having so much fun at the dress-house." I said in a winy voice.

For some reason, Fang was unaffected by my act, and just rolled his eyes, indicating that he knew I was joking.

How does he do that? I mean, I'm pretty sure that I had a pretty convincing look on my face and my voice was perfectly intact.

Fang seemed to be doing this a lot lately. Actually, now that I think about it, he always seemed to know what I was thinking about. As creepy as it sounds. Something was definitely up. I was sure of it.

What with the recent events, and me remembering weird things from my past. A storm was coming, and I had no clue which way to run.

Sensing the change of my mood, once again, Fang looked at me with concern and a hint of something else in his eyes. Shaking my head, I focused on the stand in front of me. For some reason, my happy glow had faded and was now replaced by a sinking feeling at the pit of my stomach.

Something told me, that I was wondering into unwanted territory within my mind. It was as if there was some sort of block on my thoughts. Something that I so badly wanted to reach, but was just slightly out of reach.

"Max.." I heard someone say my name. Looking around, millions of colours surrounded me as I shook my head and blinked a few times.

Fang was now eyeing me with a worried look on his face. But I just smiled and for the third time today, turned my a attention back to the matter at hand.

The man at the stall seemed to have notice my weird behaviour, and was now eyeing us with weird looks.

Moving forward, I started to look at some tunics which hung at the front of the stand, not wanting to spoil my time with Fang. I mean. It wasn't every day that Fang took me out to the bazaar and planned out our day.

A blush rose up to my cheeks as I realised the direction of my thoughts. Slightly shaking my head, I turned to Fang as he looked at me expectantly.

"Thank you so much Fang. I think I really needed some thing _fun_ to do." I smiled at the end.

From the look on Fang's face, I could tell that he did not believe that I was alright. But he didn't ask. He left me to myself.

Relieved that I had escaped questioning, I turned back to the tunics and actually payed attention to them. Some of them had the most beautiful embroidery that I had ever seen. As I looked around the stall, I noticed one tunic at the very back that caught my attention.

It was a dark royal blue with silver embroidery. A dragon was embroidered onto the shirt, making its way around in a swirl. It had long hanging sleeves, and was made out of a sort of satin material. Fang seemed to sense my gaze on the tunic and made his way towards me.

"Do you like it?" He asked placing a hand on my shoulder, averting my attention from the tunic, to the warm feeling I got on my shoulder where his hand now rested.

"It looks nice, I wonder how much it is?" I questioned, almost to myself, but I knew he had heard me.

As we turned towards the man that owned the stand, I was about to speak, but fang cut me off.

"Please pack that one at the back." he pointed at the tunic. As the man moved the grab the tunic, I stopped him.

"How much will that be sir?" I asked.

Slightly startled, the man turned back to me.

"Please call me Lorenzo Your Majesty." He corrected.

"Okay then Lorenzo, if I call you by your name, then you do not refer to me as your majesty. Call me Max, or just 'Miss' if you must."

After the moment of hesitation the man nodded and grabbed the tunic, turning it over, where a small paper hung. After examining the paper, he turned back to me.

"The tunic is a thousand dimes, miss." He stated.

A small gasp escaped me as I turned to Fang.

"We are not getting that Fang, it is worth way too much. Plus, I don't think I want to spend so much money on myself."

I could see that he was about to protest, but I gave him a look and he just nodded, turning to the man. As Fang spoke to the man, I looked around and found some more reasonable priced tunics to buy.

After the man was done packing the tunics I had gotten, Fang told him to have them delivered to the castle as soon as possible. As we walked away from the stall, I noticed Fang watching me intently. But as soon as he noticed I was watching, he shifted his gaze a few paces to the left, making it look like he had actually been looking at something behind me, rather that at me.

For some unexplainable reason, I felt a blush creep it's way onto my cheeks for what seemed like the umpteenth time today. Looking down at my hands, I kept walking ahead, not wanting to look at Fang in fear of the way I would react.

And to think, that at one point, the only thing that had ever scared me was myself. But for some reason, as I spent more and more time with Fang, I became more vulnerable, if not with others, I was especially vulnerable with him.

He seemed to bring back the side of me that not many saw. The side which I had thought I had lost with the death of my father. And for some reason, I was scared of what he was doing to me. I had never been an emotional person.

I had always been quiet and usually kept my feeling bottled up, rather than telling the world. But for some reason, he always seemed to know how I was feeling and whatever time, without me even telling him.

I guess the thing that got me the most was the fact that he never judged or commented. He was always one to acknowledge my feelings, but never really ask unless I told him willingly.

Looking around, I noticed that we had entered a different bazaar. All sorts of smells entered my nose, making me smile. There was food everywhere. All sorts of stands, with different food, some that I had only ever imagined on eating.

Turning around, I saw that Fang was again observing me, but this time he didn't look away. Instead he smiled. A fully fledged toothy grin, making my insides to random flip-flops.

"I knew you liked food. So I had to bring you here." He gestured to all the food around us.

"We have to visit one of my personal favourites. " He smirked, as if he knew something I didn't.

But I ignored it, being in too good a mood to be bothered to grill him about whatever it was he was smirking about.

Walking over to the stall he had motioned to, I waited for Fang to catch up, before turning to the man in charge. He looked at both of us and smiled, as Fang stepped forward and quickly gazed over the the food in the stall.

"We will take two small servings of each." He ordered, and the man gave a small nod and complied.

As much as I liked Fang, sometimes his arrogant character got the best of him. But I couldn't blame him. He was brought up that way. So I guess there was only so much he would know about any of this.

But the thought of how different we both were made my stomach churn, as a small sinking feeling took over me.

Looking up, I realised that I had no idea what Fang had ordered. The stall seemed to have different types of chicken and. and rice I noticed, as the man serving us packed many little boxes of different types of chicken with rice.

As he was done packing, he handed the food to Fang, who just gave him a small nod and started to walk away.

Turing, I looked at the man, I said"Thank You Sir." before walking off behind Fang.

As we stopped I realised that we were now at the edge of town. A few meters away from lush green fields and farmland. Fang kept walking, heading towards a corn field at the edge of the walkway. Turning away from the beautiful scenery, I followed him, quickening my pace in order to catch up.

As we reached the edge of the path, Fang took a left, leading onto another path which wound through the corn field disappearing around a bend. Walking onto the field, I followed closely behind Fang, as the the opening into the field closed. Fang was definitely up to something. This was one of the rare occasions I had seen him use magic, so there had to be good reason behind this.

We walked on for a few more seconds before we reached a little clearing. At the centre of the clearing there was a small rug and a basket full of all sorts of food. Fang walked up to the rug, but I stood my ground, not knowing what was going on.

He put the bag of food he had in his hand down on the rug and turned towards me with a raised eyebrow as if asking me to join him. But I still stood in place.

Sighing, Fang walked up to me and stood before me, with a little smirk on his face.

"Aren't you hungry Max?" He asked, knowing full well why I was not joining him on the rug.

Sighing, he grabbed my hand and dragged me towards the food. As we got a little closer, a delicious smell entered my nose, as a smile made it's way across my face.

"What is that delicious smell?" I asked, before I could control myself.

Fang only chuckled and sat me down beside him.

"Why don't we eat and find out?" He offered, as he handed me a plate of rice and chicken.

I gave him a questioning look and he just chuckled.

"It's traditional butter chicken, if you must know." He responded. Before digging in to his food.

After watching him for a few seconds, I took a bite myself, and couldn't help the small moan that escaped me.

"Where has this stuff been all my life?" I asked between bites, as I savoured the delicious taste of the rice and chicken combination.

Fang just chuckled and continued eating. As I calmed down, and started eating like a normal person, I looked around and for the first time actually realised how beautiful the little clearing was.

Above us, the sun was setting and the few clouds in the sky made perfect silhouettes against the sunset. The corn field was dimly lit, and the remaining warmth of the afternoon sun lingered in the air.

Birds were chirping, and somewhere far away, I could hear the low, consistent wing-beats of a dragon.

Smiling, I turned around to face Fang, only to catch him looking at me with an unknown look on his face. As soon as he saw that I had noticed he turned away and looked up at the sky.

"It is beautiful isn't it?" He asked in an almost inaudible whisper. But for some reason I had a feeling this wasn't just about the scenery.

I slowly nodded and took another bite of the delicious rice. Looking up, I saw Fang was now grinning, which for the record, was as rare as a four leaf clover.

"You always have a way to turn a beautiful moment into something weird don't you?" he asked, gesturing towards the scenery and then my food.

I gave a sheepish grin and looked away from him, before taking another bite.

What? You couldn't blame me for wanting to eat something so good.

* * *

As we both finished eating our food, I noticed that the sun had set, and there was only a small amount of lingering light in the sky.

My stomach was so full, I had trouble getting up. Along with the food Fang had bought, there had been bread and all sorts of spreads in the basket along with cheese and apple juice. It had been so long since I had eaten so much food, that tasted so good.

A moment of silence passed between Fang and I before he got up and dusted off his trousers, looking up at the now appearing stars in the sky.

There was a slight look of confusion on his face as her turned to face me. But before he could say what he wanted we were interrupted by the sound of slow-beating wings descending from the sky.

A moment later, Sabre landed in the clearing, his dark scales now glimmering in the light of the moon. There was a full moon out in the sky, lighting up the clearing almost as if it were day. As Fang positioned himself on Sabre's back, he turned to me and raising his eyebrow.

"Well, aren't you coming?" He asked, motioning me to join him on sabre's back.

Giving a quick nod, I walked towards him and climbed on behind him. As soon as I was on his back, Sabre took off into the sky, almost making me fall.

Fang grabbed both my hands and wound them around his wait, as if gesturing for me to hold on. I silently complied without complaint, as I was too caught in the moment of flying over the beautifully lit up town as we headed towards the fortress.

At some point in the ride, I rested my head on Fang's back and closed my eyes, because when I opened them again, I was in someone arms, being carried towards my bed.

Confused, I looked up to meat a pair of dark eyes. Fang's face was inches from my own, as he lay me down on my bed. As soon as my head hit the pillow though, I felt sleep come over me. But not before I felt a pair of soft lips press against my forehead, as I drifted off into a deep slumber.

***********Line********************

As I opened my eyes, I looked around, the sun shining brightly in my face. The curtains to my balcony were wide open, meaning Nudge had had her morning visit. On my bed side table there lay a note along with some food.

_Make sure you bath and eat breakfast, then meat me in the grand hall as soon as your done. _

_-_ _Nudge. _

Sighing, I got out of bed and headed straight for the bathroom, taking a quick bath and freshening up for the day. The hooks had a pair of black leather trousers with a dark purple tunic hanging, probably put there by Nudge for me to wear.

As I slipped into my clothes, I tightened the belt on my tunic, before grabbing a hair brush and untangling my hair. As soon as I was done, I walked out of the bathroom and almost inhaled my breakfast. Poached egg and toast.

As soon as my tummy was satisfied, I walked up to my mirror and wiped any excess breadcrumbs off my face, before heading out. As I walked out, the I noticed that the hallways were bustling with maids and servants as they ran about doing chores.

The halls were decorated and new curtains were draped across all the windows and all sorts of ribbon and lace lined the walls and banisters. Maids brought in fresh flowers and ran around with candles and decorations. There was definitely something big going on.

As I reached the hall, I pushed open its two large golder doors, only to find it crowded with more maids and servants as Nudge shouted orders this way and that. Slightly confused, I started to make my way up to her but she caught sight of me and ran towards me.

"Max! Where have you been? I have been waiting for you for a very long time! Oh, I knew that tunic would look beautiful on you. Anyway, don't you know what night it is today Max? We have been planning this for as long as I can remember. You need to be ready-" But I cut her off there with a hand over her mouth and raised an eyebrow, completely confused by the situation.

As if she finally realised I had no idea what was going on, Nudge sighed and shook her head.

"You have got to be kidding me Max?" Was all she said as I looked at her questioningly for some sort of explanation.

"Max, it's the Spring Ball tonight. And then tomorrow is the coronation and the escort ride. Then the next day we have feasts and festivals in town. How could you not-" But before she could finish her sentence, Angel walked up to us and tapped Nudge on the shoulder.

Nudge jumped about a foot into the air, before turning and smiling.

"Angel, finally. I really need some help around here. Seeing as Max here only just found out that the Spring Ball was tonight. What will I ever do with this girl..." she continued to rant but I just tuned out and gave Angel a small smile.

She chuckled and shrugged, as Nudge walked away towards the servants, still ranting on about my carelessness. As soon as she was out of earshot, I let out a small sigh, making Angel laugh and shake her head.

"But really Max, how could you forget such an event?" She asked with an amused smirk.

"Honestly Angel, I really had no idea. No one had told me. So how was I supposed to know?"

"Max, I told you that day we were my cottage. Remember?" A faint memory of the day came back to me, as Angel told me about what a good time I had come at.

I also remembered Fang being very tense at the mention of the coronation, but I had taken no notice of it at the time. It all started to make sense now. The dresses, the shoes and then the new tunics I had bought with Fang yesterday. Looking at Angel, I smiled as I recalled the events of the last few days.

"Just a question Angel. What does this all have to do with me? I mean I know I will be attending, but I really don't see the big deal?"I asked. Angel's face turned from a smirk to a small frown.

"So he didn't tell you?" Was all she said before running off towards the large doors I had entered through.

As she ran off I called after her.

"Who didn't tell me what? Angel!" But she was gone.

Okay, something was definitely up. I had no idea what was going on around me these days and I would get to the bottom of this. Sighing, I walked towards Nudge.

"So what do I do now?" I asked, as she finished instructing a maid on the hallway decorations.

She turned to me and smiled.

"Well, for starters, you can help me organise these decorations and pick colours. Then, you will have to get ready, but that's still later. So we've got time. Now, I need you to go choose the flowers for the main hall." She ordered.

I gave her a mock salute and headed in the direction she had indicated.

* * *

I had never seen so many different flowers in life. In all sorts of colours and shapes and textures, this was like flower wonderland.

Choosing the flower decorations for the hall had been easy. I had chosen all sorts of wild flowers, mostly orange, red and green.

By the end of the day, the hall looked beautiful, filled with vibrant flowers and all sorts or beautiful scents. My clothes smelled of roses and Stargazer Lily's. As I finished putting the last bouquet in place, Nudge rushed over to with a huge grin on her face.

"Oh, Max they all look and smell so good. Now we have to go and get you dressed, the guests have stated to arrive out the front." With that, she pulled me towards one of the servant doors leading to the second floor.

As we got up the stairs, to the second floor, we were greeted by a smiling Fang, as if he had been expecting us. The minute Nudge saw Fang, she giggled and started to walk away.

I called after her and tried to grab her hand, but Fang grabbed my arm and held me in place. Facing him, I raised an eyebrow.

"Stay still Max, I need to ask you something."

Obliging, I stopped protesting and looked at him expectantly, as he opened and closed his mouth several times to say something. After the first time, I couldn't help but snicker, as I watched Fang lost for words.

"Well?" was all I said, as I watched him in amusement.

"Okay Max, so I just wanted to know if..." But he trailed off again.

"Oh, just spit it out Fang. It can't be that bad?" I questioned.

"Fine. I just wanted to know if you would you give me the honour to be your escort to the Spring Ball?" he said really fast.

I wouldn't have heard, if I hadn't been paying very close attention. There was a silence, as the words sunk in. Fang wanted me to be his escort? Me? I'm pretty sure I looked really stupid standing there with my mouth slightly hanging open as I stared at Fang as if he had grown another head.

"See, I knew it. Don't worry, you don't th-mthmmhat" I cut him off by placing a hand over his mouth.

"Now, why are you assuming I am saying no?" I questioned.

"Well, for starters you were staring at me like I had grown another head. I mean silence and a look aren't exactly a positive response.." He whisper-yelled.

"Well, I didn't say no now did I? And plus, why are we whispering?" I whispered back. Smirking he just shook his head.

"Well, is that a yes or a no?" He inquired, the same look uncertainty covering his face.

It was the first time I had seen him show any sort of proper emotion,other than his normal cockiness.

"Yeah okay." I said with a smile.

For a second he looked at me, as if contemplating whether I had actually said yes. He finally smirked and walked away, leaving me standing and staring at the place he was once standing. As soon as he disappeared around a bend, Nudge appeared again, with a small smile gracing her lips.

"Come on Max, we need to get you ready for the dance. I can't wait! I mean now that Fang has officially asked you, it will be so good! I can almost imagine that dress that we bought yesterday. It's going to look so good on you. I can just imagine Fang's reac-" I cut her off with a weird look.

But then I remembered something.

"Nudge, how do you know that Fang asked me to the dance, I never remember telling you?" She froze in place and just gave a sheepish smile.

"Word travels fast in the serving quarters..?" She almost questioned. I gave a glare and rolled my eyes.

"You and I both know for a fact that that is not how you found out." I commented in monotone. Nudge slightly gulped under my gaze, but then straightened up.

"We have no time to argue Max. We need to get you ready for this thing. Now come on." She said as she dragged me into my room.

* * *

I think I might skip describing the torturous act which Nudge committed on my face. Right now I was sitting on a large armchair facing a wall.

You see, Nudge insisted that I only see myself when I was fully dressed and ready. This meant that I had no idea what horrible things she had done to my face.

"You need to stop scrunching your nose Max, or I will ruin the make-up and you WILL look bad. Oh my God, you look so good right now. I can just imagine your reaction. Or even better, I can just imagine Fan-"

I cut her off by giving her a death glare. This time though, she didn't even flinch. She just smiled really big, but thankfully did not continue.

After a minute of silence, in which Nudge applied all sorts of things to my face, we were finally done. Nudge took a few steps back to get a good look at me and squealed like a maniac while jumping up and down.

For anyone who was observing and had no idea what was going on. She would look possessed. But to me, she looked like herself. Hyped up, and overly excited.

I stared at her with a raised eyebrow, but she just squealed even more.

"Oh, Max, you look so good! The dress is just perfect and then your hair! I must say, I am so proud of my work!" she squealed again, making me wince. I was sure I was going to damage something in my ears today for sure.

I was currently dressed in the dress we had bought at the dress-house. The black satin hung on my hips, the dress making a perfect fit. I must say, it looked great as I looked down at it, but then again, I had no idea how it would look on me.

As I stood there in thought, Nudge had decided to uncover the wall mirror she had so kindly covered while doing my make-up.

Looking up, I saw someone that looked remotely familiar. The girl in the mirror had slightly curled dirty blonde hair, with little ringlets framing her face. Her lips were slightly pink, and her her dark brown eyes were lightly brimmed with black as her lids were covered in a light silver and gold powder.

In other words, she looked nothing like me. But as I stood there and stared at my reflection, I started to believe more and more that it was actually me and not some random spell on the mirror.

"Wow, Nudge, you really out-did yourself." I said, releasing a breath I did not know I was holding. This made Nudge beam even more than she was already. She clapped her hands and grabbed my hand, dragging me towards the dressing stand as she picked up a ling fur clock with a slight hood.

"Now, I need you to wear this. I can't have you walk to the Grand hall looking like that. It's tradition that the Royal guests enter the Ball Room with a cloak and remove it as they are being announced by the door-man." she said with a smile.

"Wait, before we do this. Will you be there? I think I have no idea what to do." I asked as she gave me a smile.

"Yes, I will be there too, but I will be at the refreshments table, monitoring the maids. But don't worry, you can come up and speak to me whenever you wish. Also, Angel will be there. So you will have her there in case you do something something too Max-like and stupid." She assured.

I gave her a friendly glare and grabbed the cloak from her hands, as I adjusted it around my body. Nudge helped me position it properly as I pulled the hood lightly over my head.

Walking out of my room, I braced myself for the Ball room as we descended the stairs towards two large gold doors.

Here goes nothing.

* * *

**Okay, so how was it...? I know it wasn't the best but please bare with me here. I have DEFINITE drama planned for the next chapter. **

**Anyway, i just wanted to say, any time you feel like talking or asking about the story, or anything really, PM me. I eill be happy to talk to you. :D  
**

**Also, the reviews were amazing the last chapter, but i know i don't deserve this, can we please try 20-25 this time? **

**Anyway, here are the review replies to all you lovely people out there. i would like to say a special sorry to Gummy Bear and Spazway2 for making you wait for so long for an update. **

* * *

**- Froyogirl27- Thank You! i hope you like this too... thanks for the review!**

**- HeAt-StRoKe- Hmm, i feel bad for making you wait. i hope this was good. thanks for reviewing and baring with me... :D. Lot of love.**

**- XxDDxX- Hmmm, thank you soo much. as for your questions, lets see... Ari will be good, as for Max seeing everything as familiar, it will all be explained in next chapter and then the next. the story has about 4-6 for chapters to go, maximum. :D. i hope their time together was alright... I was going to ad Fax, but then i had a light bulb moment and so all will be revealed next chapter. i hope this was good. lots of love. **

**- TheDarkAngelofAwesome- hahaha, i hope this was good. i tried to be mysterious... Hope you liked it. :D**

**- ChrisyLikestoEatMangoes- Hahaha, that's funny, i'm so hungry again. i feel like chocolate now... :D Anyway, it would be cool if you came. what are the chances, we might meet... :D Anyway, i hope you liked this. not so well written, but i hope it was still good... lots of love.**

**- PatonxJulia- :D i'm glad you like it. i hope this was good.**

**- Fly On Maximum Taylor Ride- okay, so you might be a little disappointed, because there was no Fax. but, it was too obvious to put it there, so i didn't... i hope you like it though. i think you will like the next chapter. ;). hahaha, naughty girl, losing sleep over FF :P. Thanks for the late night review. i hope you liked this. lots of love. **

**- Gummy Bear - Okay, so First, i am sooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry for this late update. you have all rights to be mad. i feel sooo bad. :( Also... awwww, you have no idea how much i love reading your reviews. :D. really, they make me smile every time i read one.. Anyway, thank you for the feedback. Also, i had a bit more of the bazaar in this, but do not worry, there is still more to come... also, i kept back the secrets a bit more. i have a feeling next chapter will be a storm... no more holding it off. this story is soon to end... Lissa and Ari and all the other things that everyone wants will be there. i hope this had more description in it. lots and lots of love.**

**- oOo KitKat oOo- hmmm, well, i hope this was soon... thank you soo much. Did you have fun on your vacation? i hope you did. i hope you liked this.. it was a bit rough on the edges, so i hope it was alright. thanks for the comments. i really really appreciate it. i'm glad you found this story too, because i love reading your reviews. feel free to PM me any time.. lots of love.**

**- Spazway2- okay so first off, i am super duper sorry for this late update. hmmm, i have no idea what to say. so sorry. i hope this chapter was good though.. also, thanks for the previous review, i really really appreciate it. thanks again. lots of love.**

**- WhatIsLove- thanks soooo much. ****i hope you didn't die. and as for the book, well i have had that in mind. ****i will let you know if i ever do... thanks heaps. :D **

**********- FangsGirl823- hmm, what to say. well, thanks for the review. i changed the present day aspect (i hope). tell me what you think. lots of love. ************talk soon.**

**********************- MelRose520- thanks heaps. i hope this was good. :D**

**- **STALLION OF THE CIMARRON**- thanks. :D i hope this was good. sorry for **the** long wait... **

**- Moon Agent- thanks so much. i hope you liked this. i hope this was good... you were one of my first reviewers. thanks.**

* * *

**okay, so thats it folks. **

**i hope you liked it. thanks again for the reviews. i hope we can do at least 20 this time... no pressure. :D**

**anyway, i am going to go and eat now. cookies...**

**Adios,**

**Beeni.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hello everyone... *Hides behind pillow while being pelted by banana peels***

**Okay, so I'll say it.. I AM THE WORST AUTHOR ON THIS SITE. I know, I promised that I would have this up so much sooner, but as time passed I had a huge increase in my workload, seeing as my senior year started and I had no time hands. Also, I will guiltily admit, that there were times I had had time to work on this, but I had either chosen not to or had been too lazy to. **

**But, I have been working on this bit by bit ever since the last update and have tried my best to make it as worth your while as possible. I understand if some of my readers have left me and now hate me. I would hate me too, seeing as I hate it when authors don't update. So I ask you to continue reading this even if you do hate me. Please don't hate the story for my stupid mistakes.**

**Now, like I always say, on with the story... (I think)**

* * *

As soon we reached the bottom of the stairs, Nudge gave my arm a small squeeze before pushing me forward. Giving her a small nod, I walked up to the large golden doors. The footman gave a small bow and asked for my name, rank and place birth place.

"Miss Ride, of Palmede." I answered, giving the location of my birth. The man gave a curt nod before placing both hands on the large golden doors before me and giving a slight push.

I held my breath as he walked inside, holding the door open for me. The noise from within the ball room had ceased, as I assumed everyone was now facing the door. I walked in as the footman turned to the our audience and announced my entrance.

"Miss Ride, of Palmede."

As soon as he announced my name, I took a step forward and removed my cloak, finally getting at the people before me. All around the room, all eyes were on me.

Stepping forward, I inwardly winced as my healed sandals made a clicking noise with each step. Everyone watched me with scrutiny as I made my way down the spiralling staircase at a steady pace.

Gazing around the room, I noticed Angel stood at one end of the dance floor accompanied by her brother Gazzy. Both had wonderful smiles on their faces as they watched me descend the staircase into the awaiting crowd below.

Angel wore a beautiful light blue dress, that hugged her figure in all the right places. Her dress sparkled in the light of the ball room and she really did look like an angel. Next to her, Gazzy was dressed in a formal white tunic and a pair of expensive looking leather trousers.

They both notice my gaze and smiled at me, before Angel gave a small reassuring nod in my direction. I smiled back and turned to scan the rest of the room.

At the opposite end of the room stood the king and queen. Valencia wore a royal blue strapless dress with a fur overcoat and the king was dressed in his usual attire, consisting a formal velvet gown with a white tunic and black leather trousers.

My steady decent soon became shorter as I came closer and closer to the small opening in the crowd where Fang stood in all his glory.

He had a funny look on his face, his mouth slightly hung open and his eyes wide, watching me descend the staircase towards him. Fang wore a simple light grey tunic and skinny black trousers. It was a dramatic change from his usual full black attire, and for some reason, it made me smile as I watched him. He looked good, that was for sure.

A small blush made it's way up my neck and to my face as I realised the direction of my thoughts. In last few days especially, it was becoming harder and harder to hate Fang for his cockiness and smart comments, usually aimed at me.

I constantly found myself smiling and warming up to the idea always having him around. He had tried his absolute best to make the past few days perfect, even when he did have an annoying smirk on his face. Like now for instance, he was looking me up and down with a crooked smirk on his face.

The silence in the room seemed to intensify as I reached the bottom step. Fang extend his arm forward and gesture for me to take his hand. Looking down, I felt yet another blush grace my cheeks as I felt my soft skin meet the warm, calloused skin of his hand.

As soon as I was by his side he tightened his grip on my hand as he lead me to the centre of the dance floor.

"You look beautiful this evening, Max." There was a sparkle in his eyes as I looked up when I heard him speak. Mtymind blanked and I lost all awareness of my surroundings as my cheeks heated once again. Looking down once more, I was lost for words as tried to answer his direct compliment.

"You don't look too bad yourself." I answered, looking down at our intertwined hands. He moved his arm forward and wrapped it around my waist, pulling me closer him. His other hand grabbed right hand as we started to slowly move to the calming melody that played around us.

My hand slowly made it's way up, resting on his shoulder. We just moved to the music for a a few minutes before he spoke.

"You seem to amaze me every time Max. Every time I see you, I think to myself that you so beautiful. But then, every time, you seem to outdo yourself by looking even more beautiful the next time."

I had lost all awareness now. My body just unconsciously swayed with his as I stared into his eyes, too shocked to do anything. I couldn't trust my voice as my throat went dry. But he was not done.

"The minute I had seen you, I felt the urge to protect you. Even though it was expected of me to safely bring you back here, I couldn't help but feel a wave of over-protectiveness take over every time I looked at you. At first I had thought it had been the urge to fulfil my duties properly, but then the feeling never left me.

Even after I bought you here, I couldn't get you out of my head. So I made up another excuse and told myself that it was because we had spent too much time together and the feeling would pass after I left you alone. So I ignored you t the beginning. But that never worked. I just couldn't get you out of my head."

His voice was a raspy whisper as he spoke the last line. I was still too shocked to say anything and gulped as his gaze intensified.

"Then I just gave up Max. I just had to see you and I couldn't be bothered fighting the feeling. The past few days have been great. The weird ache in my heart that I had felt when I had been avoiding you was gone. I was just happy.

But the feeling didn't stop there. I just waned to make you smile. I wanted to see you happy and that would make me happy too. I was way to confused to have any idea what I was feeling. I just went along with it. Max I-I -"

But before he could finish, someone tapped his shoulder and he turned, revealing a smiling Ari behind him.

"Your times up man. I get to talk to her now."

Fang looked like he was about to protest, but then just sighed and nodded. Turning towards me, he smiled and grabbed my hand.

"I'll talk to you later. Save the last dance?" He asked.

I just nodded as he planted a small kiss on the back of my hand before disappearing into the crowd of people. I turned to see that Ari had moved closer and now held out his hand. Smiling, I accepted and we started swaying to the music.

Ari looked at me with a small grin as he started moving a little faster, keeping up with the music.

"You look beautiful Max."

I just smiled and mentally sighed. It seemed that all conversation would begin with the same sentence.

"You clean up pretty well too."

We were quiet for a moment, but then Ari broke the silence with a small sigh.

"You know Max, from the moment I saw you, I knew there was something special about. I just didn't know what it was. I felt this connection with you that I haven't felt in a long time."

Shocked, I looked up, into his eyes, willing him not to continue. Why did this sound awfully familiar to the speech Fang had just given me?

"I've been looking for that same connection nearly all my life, and I come to this town and for some reason everything just falls into place."

The more I listen, the more Ari began to sound like Fang had just a few minutes ago. My breath hitched as he moved his hand forward and pushed a strand of my hair out of my face. This could not be happening again. I mean, with Ari? No, this wasn't right. But there was something that kept me in place as he moved forward and enveloped me into a hug.

"Oh, Max I have missed you so much."

He pulled back and looked at me smiling. As the words sunk in, confusion washed over me. What did he mean he missed me? I had just met him a few days ago, and I didn't think he was the type to make such a big deal of such things.

I'm not sure how long we stood there like that. Him staring at me smiling, while I stared into the distance in confusion.

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

For some weird reason, his grin widen and he started pulling me outside the ballroom. We passed many people as they nodded and greeted me, but I could not do more than smile as Ari pulled me faster and faster towards the ballroom doors.

As we reached the terrace, the cool air lingered on my skin, causing goosebumps to rise along my bare arms. Ari stopped abruptly as we neared the end of the small balcony. Like all of the palace balconies, the railings were intertwined with different coloured roses releasing an light aroma into the already chilly night air. As we stood there for a minute, Ari examined our surroundings before turning back to me.

"Now Max, I have no idea how I'm supposed to say this. So, I'm just going to get to the point."

He paused and looked at and I slightly nodded in encouragement.

"Okay so, you're my sister." He blurted out. For about a minute I just stood there staring at him the way I had been before.

"Okay, so seriously Ari, what did you want?" I looked at him expectantly, but he only stared back.

At that moment about a millions emotions ran through my head all at once. Confusion regarding the situation, annoyance that Ari was joking about such a matter and hurt that he could make fun such a thing.

"This isn't something I take to lightly Ari. My family is a grievous matter to me and I do not joke and laugh about it like thing. I would appreciate it if you could respect that." I looked at him with anger, tears threatening to fall as memories of my family flooded my brain.

"My parents died a long time ago. And I would like to honour their deaths, not take the matter so lightly. I'm deeply offended that you could say such a thing!" My voice slightly raised at the last part.

Ari just stared back at me the same way he had before. The same calm, but excited expression on his face as he stared back at me.

"Fang said that you would react like this. And quite frankly I would be worried if you hadn't. I mean, family is a delicate topic for anyone to discuss."

I stared back at him with one eyebrow lifted.

"Fang?" What the hell did Fang and have to do this?

"Fang knew about this? What do you mean Fang said it would be like this?"

I stared at him with a glare on my face. There was definitely something going on here that I didn't know of. Something everyone had been hiding from me for god knows how long.

Ari breathed out a long sigh before looking back at me.

"Okay, so I know there are a lot of things going on right now that you have no clue about. But Max, you need to hear me out. This is not all as bad as you may think." He paused and looked at me in the eye.

"You need to understand that there were reasons we had to keep this from you earlier. I'm really sorry Max." I cut him off with a glare.

"Okay, I get it Ari, you didn't tell me. Now stop beating around the bush and tell me what's going on. Or so help me god there WILL be trouble!"

He just nodded and turned towards the balcony railings, leaning both hands against them.

"So basically, to cut it all short. You're not who you think you are Max. You were never the daughter of the King of Palmede. Although you did spend most of your life at the palace, there was a life before that, and there was also always a life waiting for you after that.

Although you were adopted into the royal blood, as time passed it seemed to grow on you. And now, you are as much royal as anything else."

He paused and looked back at me. There were so many things running through my mind at that moment.

Who was I? Did I trust Ari? And more importantly was he telling me the truth? The more I wanted to deny what Ari was saying to me, for some reason there was something in me telling me make him continue.

There was a part of me that had always thought that I had never had any resemblance to my 'mother', the queen of Palmede. The castle had always been, home but for some reason, I had always felt like I was the odd one in the family.

I didn't have both my parents dark eyes. I had bright green eyes, that seemed to change colour in different light or according to my mood. But I had always thought nothing of it.

Now that I thought about it, there had always been something different about me. But I had never grown to know. Looking up at Ari, I urged him to continue with my eyes, as my face heated and my hands started trembling. Sweat trickled down my forehead, but I looked down and waited for him to say something.

"I know this is a lot to take in Max, but I think it's about time you knew. The king had chosen to adopt you and take you in from father to give you a better life. It was a time where not much was different to now. The rich were too rich and he poor were too poor. There were very few who were in the middle and earned a healthy income.

Father had been the kings head of the royal guard. He had always been a strong allie to the king, and when in a time of need the king had promised to take care of his daughter as he went to war. The war that caused all this. The war between good and evil." He paused for breath and then continued.

"Father could never return to the kingdom because soon it was also taken over. When he had left, he had left mother behind because she had been pregnant, in the care of the king. She was given a little cottage on the outskirts of the palace. She had never wanted to benefit too much from the king if she could make a living herself.

At the time of the invasion, she had taken me with her into the woods behind our house to collect wood to sell at the market. It was one of the few things she did to make a living. As we had been returning home, we saw the house was on fire and that the palace was aflame too. That was the last time I had seen her until recently."

He stopped and watched me again, as if to gauge my reaction. The more and more he told me, the more I seemed to be able to put the pieces together.

"Wait, before you continue, I need to ask you something. Let's just say for arguments sake that I believe you and that I am your sister, that means you found our 'parents'." I said parents with little quotation marks with my fingers.

"That would mean, guessing from the story, that our father would currently be doing something along the lines of warfare and training. That would also mean that he escaped the war and has settled here or close to here."

At that very moment I remembered the day I had first met Ari. How he had come here looking for his father and had in turn been taken in by Jeb. The whole arrangement had seemed a little off in the beginning. The army general willingly accepting a foreign boy, whom he had no combat report or background on, was not something that happened every day.

I had never given any of this thought before, leaving it to those in charge to question the actions of the general or anyone for the matter. But, even if Ari had some relation to the general, the possibility that I was related to him seemed too much.

"I know this may seem a little far-fetched at the moment Max, but trust me when I say that I don't just make false assumptions on such matters. I have enough respect to know when I may be crossing a line, but I'm telling you Max, I've never been so sure about such things before."

The look on his face as he said this was almost pleading as he scanned our surroundings once more. This was definitely a side of Ari I had never seen before. The seriousness of the absurdities he claimed were true brought him into a whole new perspective.

But for some reason a part of me wanted him to go on and tell me what he had to say, as if somewhere inside me, I already knew the answer to what was happening. And yet another side of me wanted to doubt his words and deem them too unexpected and abrupt.

My inner turmoil seemed to worry Ari more as he watched at me with pleading eyes, willing me to hear him out. There was just something there, whether it be in his face or the aura he was radiating that made give a slight nod of my head, permitting him to continue. If what he claimed was true I would only believe him on reasonable grounds, and for that he needed to continue.

"As you've probably already figured out, yes, Jeb is our father. He has been settled here for a long time and both the king and queen have known his story and condition from the moment he applied for the senior training position within the palace guard. I'm not sure who else knows, but I am sure this is the reason Fang was sent to rescue you when he did." He stopped to look at me, as if to study my reaction.

As I stood there and listened to him, each word seemed to hit me harder as he said it, although I had already figured most of it out myself. Listening to someone else saying it made it so much more real. And yet the only thing that seemed to be going through my head at the moment was, had Fang known about this? That was all my mind could dwell on as this life-changing piece of information was relayed to me.

Taking my silence as a hint to go on, Ari continued to piece my life together.

"You have also met our mother before. I'm not sure if you remember when you went dress shopping, the lady that had served you at the bazaar had indeed been our mother. I can say with certainty that you felt the connection with her while you were in the shop. You had come out almost in a daze."

I looked at him as the events of the day I had gone dress shopping with Angel and Nudge replayed in my head. I definitely remembered her, she was the one with the weird golden eyes that I had been so easily drawn to. The more and more I thought about it, the people he seemed to be mentioning all seemed to have the same adverse effect on me like he had described.

And yet, I could not come to the conclusion that they were indeed related to me. I mean were we supposedly people of magic, so it could have been anything. Maybe it was just a connection I shared with others like me. But then I would have felt it with other towns people.

I was sure I shared an undeniable connection with some of these people, but was it really the type that Ari was so sure I was experiencing?

"I know this seems really crazy right now, but all I ask for Max is that you give me a chance to prove it to you. I just hope you won't reject this without me giving a proper justification for what I say. I know this is crazy. I know you have very right not to believe me, but I do wish that you would give the chance to prove myself to you."

He stopped, but then continued as if he remembered something important.

"Also, please promise me you won't do anything rash in regards to this matter. I mean it Max. And not just regarding what I said, but also I want you to treat everyone the same as you would before. Fang, the royals, they all feared that you would lash out after they kept this from you. So I need you to promise me you will stay clam." He looked into my eyes for assurance as he gave me a stern look.

As he stared down at me I realised that a part of me wished that this had never come up, even if it was true.

Because an hour ago I had been perfectly content with my life.

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**Okay, so how was it? Good? Bad? Horrible?**

**Before I go on to thank the wonderful people that reviewed the last chapter, I have a few things I must say (please don't hate me):**

**So for starters, I haven't been on this site for a VERY long time, and I think it will continue to be that way after I post this. I am so sorry to say that I can't give the full commitment to Dragon's Breath that I used to because of stuff at home and work from everywhere. But I do promise not to give up on this. I WILL FINISH THIS. I promise I will finish this. Please bare with me. It's just that I have a lot of school work and then huge exams equivalent to the SAT. So I need to study my butt off and then some. I hope you understand.**

**So I ask once again that you bear with me and hang in there. There is still a while until this journey concludes and I hope you all can be there when it does. So I hope you understand if I don't update or something soon. :)**

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**Now, on to the Reviews:**

**- HeAt-StRoKe - :D I hope you liked this.**

**- Spazway2 - Well, I'm glad you loved the last one and i hope you like this too. I will understand if I don't here from you, but there will always be a part of me wishing that you review again. I understand if you don't though. Hope you enjoyed this. lots of love.**

**- STALLION OF THE CIMARRON - I hope you like this too.**

**- Green Adventurer - Thanks, I hope you liked this too.**

**- The Jade Empress- Thanks, I appreciate the comment. I'm glad you like it so much and I hope you're still with me now. I hope you like this too.**

**- RiseToTheSkies- Hahahah, no I didn't have enough of you. I hope you like this and I want to that you for your long and wonderful reviews and dedication to this. I will also thank you for the love and support and the laughs I had while reading your reviews. You are one of those people that brought joy to me and made me realise that someone cares to have a conversation. Thanks and I hope you still with me. I can only say I wish you like this as much as the last. lots of love.**

**- XxDDxX - Okay, so I'm glad you liked the last one so much and I did add some pretty heated moments in this too. Maybe not a lot of FAX, but there was a great deal revealed. I think I let you down seeing as I did not update, but I hope you can forgive me and I hope you liked this too. lots of love.**

**- oOo KitKat oOo - I think I have failed you. I think you're one o my most understanding readers and I let you down. but I hope this makes up for it. I'm glad you had so much fun on your vacation I know what you mean when you say homesickness. The few times I have gone on holiday, I am itching to come back before the end. I know this is a little late to answer but, I hope it still counts. I have no idea if Fang's reaction was enough, but if it wan't there will be more.. :D Hope you liked this. :) Lots of love. **

**- Fly On Maximum Taylor Ride - Hahaha, well I guess it's a little late to say good luck for school. but good luck anyway. It makes me smile to know you stayed up for the update. I would understand if I let you down as you are one of my most loyal readers. I am so thankful that you review and hope that I haven't lost you in this space of time that has passed. All I can ask now is that you forgive me and that I hope you like this. Also, how's school? Lots of love. **

**- Sarah H - Hahaha, well, i must say that I loved reading your review. Thanks for giving your time. Also I'm glad I can please and please do not hesitate to point out any errors. I have been itching to write back to you in regards to the novel The Naming that you mentioned. I know what you mean when you say similar, because when I had started writing it, I had recently read the book and I think it sort of just went in there by itself. A few people have told me this before and I'm sorry if it offends or anything. I'm thinking of changing the beginning when I'm done writing this, so that it is on it's own and does not seem copied. Also, I'm sorry for the late update, because I remember you saying it was necessary to update soon. I hope you will still read this and leave a comment. Thanks. I hope you liked this. lots of love.**

**- Gummy Bear - Okay, so where to begin. I guess all I can say is I'm sorry and that I hope you can forgive me. I mean, I know I really let you down, because you are one of my MOST dedicated reviewers and I know for a fact that you have been here from the start. I'm glad you like the last chapter and I hope you like this as much or if not more. I guess I have the same excuse as before and all I can say for myself is that I had a lot of homework and no time. Senior year has taken it's toll, but I hope I still have you with me supporting me all the way. I think I would have contacted you and informed you, but you reviewed from an anonymous name and so I could not. Anyway, I hope you like this and I hope I still have you. :D Lots of love.**

**- beastishness -** **Thanks, I hope this was better because I tried to pick up the pace. :D**

**- TheDarkAngelofAwesome - I hope this was good. I know I took a while, but I hope I did well in this. Let me know.. :D**

**- Helplessly Evil - Thanks for the review and I hope this was good and met your expectations. :)**

**- Grace Providence - Hahaha, how could I live with such a request not being met. I hope this was good too and I am happy to say that I have a huge goofy goofy grin on my face as I write this to you. I am so glad that this is your favourite story and that it could have such an effect on someone. I always read stories that I love d and then glue myself to, and I must say that I never thought mine could do that. Thank you! Also, I have no idea if you ended uo making an account or not, but I will say that if you haven't then do so. Because as you said, it is a lot of fun. I hope you enjoyed this. Lots of love.**

**- ****DaughterofWolf - Hahaha, I'm glad you read the A/N and got to the cookies. Yes I did like them then (I think). Thanks for reading and I hopr you liked this too. :D**

**- FangsGirl823 - Well, T, what to say. Thanks. You are the one that motivated me to do this in the first place so thank you! Please talk soon. It's been a while. LOTS OF LOVE.**

**- GraceProvidenceThunderGirl - Hahahaha, I see you made an account. Good work. :D**

**- PrincessAmberLightshallow - Hahaha, I loved that review and I must say that I will follow through with one of your two requests. Just not sure which one yet. :D Or maybe both. I hope you liked this. Thanks for reviewing. :)**

**- canzpryncess01 - Okay, now I feel really bad. You went on your knees and I took this long. I am so sorry, you have no idea. I hope this chapter makes up for it and that you liked it. I'm glad you liked the last one too. Thanks heaps for the review. :D**

**- Merlin-obsessed - Hahaha, i liked the rant. Thanks for the review and I hope you liked this too. As for Fang killing Dylan.. ;). **

**- BritBookWorm - Hahaha, it's cool if you hate Lissa, I do too. So there will be none of that. :) I'm glad you liked this and that this is you favourite story. I hope you still like it after this long wait and the wait to come. Where I got the idea? I guess I love fantasy and realised there was none here, so I had to have some. The idea was first from a book called The Gift, but then I made it my own. I hope this wasn't too long a wait. lots of love. :)**

**- The Killerzz - Thanks, I hope you liked this and thanks for the favourite, I really appreciate it. :)**

**- blackparade - I have revived you command. I hope it's not too late. :D**

**- ILikeStrawberrys - Thanks and I hope you liked this. :D**

**- Russian Diana - Hahahaha, I hope this was good. i know it's late but I guess it's better now than never. **

**- The High-Fives For Nothing - Thanks, I hope this was good and I feel your pain in there not being any old MR books. :)**

**- Ghost King's Queen - You know, you made me update. When you reviewed, i realised how much of a cow I was being. I hope this was good and I will give you credit for guessing what was to happen, though it was predictable if you really paid attention. :) Cookies for you. :)**

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**Okay, so thank you to all the wonderful people above. ^^**

**Sorry again for my late update, but I guess better late than never, right?**

**Also, I'm back to where i was before, update at an ungodly hour. :D :D**

**It's almost 1am here so, I guess I need to say goodbye. Have a good night all of you and I hope to see you soon. **

**Adios,**

**Beeni **

**P.S. Sorry for any errors.**


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